Division 


T>Sr?10 

.T>5 


Section 


TWO  YEARS  IN 
THE 

FORBIDDEN  CITY 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/twoyearsinforbid00derl_0 


TWO  YEARS  IN 

THE 

FORBIDDEN  CITY 


BY 

\/ 

THE  PRINCESS  DER  LING 

FIRST  LADY  IN  WAITING 
TO  THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER 


Illustrated  from  Photographs 


NEW  YORK 

MOFFAT,  YARD  AND  COMPANY 
1917 


Copyright,  1911,  by 
MOFFAT,  YARD  AND  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK 

All  Rights  Reserved 
Published  October,  1911 

Sixth  Impression 
Eighth  Impression 


TO 

MY  BELOVED  FATHER 
LORD  YU  KENG 


FOREWORD 

The  author  of  the  following  narrative  has  pe- 
culiar qualifications  for  her  task.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  Lord  Yii  Keng,  a member  of  the 
Manchu  White  Banner  Corps,  and  one  of  the 
most  advanced  and  progressive  Chinese  officials 
of  his  generation.  Lord  Yii  Keng  entered  the 
army  when  very  young,  and  served  in  the  Tai- 
ping  rebellion  and  the  Formosan  war  with 
France,  and  as  Vice  Minister  of  War  during  the 
China- Japan  war  in  1895.  Later  he  was  Min- 
ister to  Japan,  which  post  he  quitted  in  1898  to 
become  President  of  the  Tsung-li-yamen  (Chi- 
nese Foreign  Office).  In  1899  he  was  ap- 
pointed Minister  to  France,  where  he  remained 
four  years.  At  a period  when  the  Chinese  Gov- 
ernment was  extremely  conservative  and  reac- 
tionary, Lord  Yii  Keng  labored  indefatigably 
for  reform.  He  was  instrumental  in  reorganiz- 
ing China’s  postal  service  on  modern  lines,  but 
failed  in  efforts  to  revise  the  revenue  system  and 

vii 


FOREWORD 


"via 

modernize  the  army  and  navy,  from  being  ahead 
of  his  times.  He  died  in  1905. 

The  progressive  spirit  of  Lord  Yii  Keng  was 
shown  in  the  education  of  his  children.  When 
it  became  known  that  his  daughters  were  receiv- 
ing a foreign  education — then  an  almost  un- 
heard-of proceeding  among  high  Manchu  offi- 
cials— attempts  were  made  to  impeach  him  as 
pro-foreign  and  revolutionary,  but  he  was  not  de- 
terred. His  children  got  their  early  education  in 
missionary  schools,  and  the  daughters  later  at- 
tended a convent  in  France,  where  the  author 
of  this  work  finished  her  schooling  and  entered 
society.  On  returning  to  China,  she  became 
First  Lady-in-Waiting  to  the  Empress  Dow- 
ager, and  while  serving  at  the  Court  in  that  ca- 
pacity she  received  the  impressions  which  provide 
the  subject-matter  of  this  book.  Her  opportu- 
nity to  observe  and  estimate  the  characteristics 
of  the  remarkable  woman  who  ruled  China  for 
so  long  was  unique,  and  her  narrative  throws  a 
new  light  on  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  per- 
sonalities of  modern  times. 

While  on  leave  from  her  duties  to  attend  upon 
her  father,  who  was  fatally  ill  in  Shanghai,  Prin- 


FOREWORD 


IX 


cess  Der  Ling  took  a step  which  terminated  con- 
nexion with  the  Chinese  Court.  This  was  her 
engagement  to  Mr.  Thaddeus  C.  White,  an 
American,  to  whom  she  was  married  on  May  21, 
1907.  Yielding  to  the  urgent  solicitation  of 
friends,  she  consented  to  put  some  of  her  ex- 
periences into  literary  form,  and  the  following 
chronicle,  in  which  the  most  famous  of  Chinese 
women,  the  customs  and  atmosphere  of  her  Court 
are  portrayed  by  an  intimate  of  the  same  race, 
is  a result. 

Thomas  F.  Millard. 

Shanghai,  July  24,  1911. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I. 

Introductory  .... 

PAGB 

1 

II. 

At  the  Palace  .... 

12 

III. 

A Play  at  the  Court  . 

24 

IV. 

A Luncheon  with  the  Empress 

39 

V. 

An  Audience  with  the  Empress 

48 

VI. 

In  Attendance  on  Her  Majesty 

55 

VII. 

Some  Incidents  of  the  Court  . 

73 

VIII. 

The  Court  Ladies 

94 

IX. 

The  Emperor  Kwang  Hsu  . 

110 

X. 

The  Young  Empress  . 

131 

XI. 

Our  Costumes  .... 

155 

XII. 

The  Empress  and  Mrs.  Conger  . 

172 

XIII. 

The  Empress’s  Portrait 

203 

XIV. 

The  Emperor’s  Birthday  . 

240 

XV. 

The  Mid-Autumn  Festival 

269 

XVI. 

The  Summer  Palace  . 

288 

XVII. 

The  Audience  Hall  . 

312 

XVIII. 

The  New  Year  Festivals  . 

328 

XIX. 

The  Sea  Palace  .... 

345 

XX. 

Conclusion 

363 

ILLUSTRATIONS 


The  Princess  Der  Ling  ....  Frontispiece 

FACING 

PAGE 

North  view  of  the  Summer  Palace  . . . . 14 

Pai  Lou  (archway) — Summer  Palace  ...  14 

The  Empress  Dowager  in  her  one  hundred  butterfly 

robe 22 

In  front  of  the  Pan  Yuin  De’en  Palace  ...  40 

View  taken  from  Pei  Yeun  Dien  ....  52 

The  Empress  Dowager  dressed  in  her  bamboo-leaf 

embroidered  robe 68 

The  Empress  Dowager,  Lady  Yii,  and  Lady  Roong 

Ling 80 

The  Empress  Dowager  in  one  of  her  boats  on  the 

Lotus  Lake . 90 

Her  Imperial  Majesty  in  her  yellow  dragon  robe  . 112 

Her  Imperial  Majesty  walking  to  the  theatre  after 

the  morning  audience 148 

Bridge  at  the  Summer  Palace 172 

The  Jade  Girdle  Bridge — Summer  Palace  . . 172 

East  side  of  the  lake  inside  the  Summer  Palace  . 186 

Stand  erected  for  foreigners 186 

The  writer  assisting  Her  Majesty  ....  220 

The  Empress  of  China  dressed  as  the  Goddess  of 

Mercy 250 

Emperor’s  coffin  carried  by  “ 600  ” pole  bearers  . 300 

Umbrella  carriers  in  the  funeral 300 

Foreigners  in  front  of  stand  waiting  for  the  funeral  . 340 

Flag  carriers  in  the  funeral 340 

The  Princess  Der  Ling  in  evening  costume  . .376 


TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN 
CITY 


My  father  and  mother,  Lord  and  Lady  Yu 
Keng,  and  family,  together  with  our  suite  consist- 
ing of  the  First  Secretary,  Second  Secretary, 
Naval  and  Military  Attaches,  Chancellors,  their 
families,  servants,  etc., — altogether  fifty-five  peo- 
ple,— arrived  in  Shanghai  on  January  2,  1903,  on 
the  S.S.  “ Annam  ” from  Paris,  where  for  four 
years  my  father  had  been  Chinese  Minister. 
Our  arrival  was  anything  but  pleasant,  as  the 
rain  came  down  in  torrents,  and  we  had  the 
greatest  difficulty  getting  our  numerous  retinue 
landed  and  safely  housed,  not  to  mention  the 
tons  of  baggage  that  had  to  be  looked  after. 
We  had  found  from  previous  experience  that 
none  of  our  Legation  people  or  servants  could 
be  depended  upon  to  do  anything  when  travel- 
ling, in  consequence  of  which  the  entire  charge 
devolved  upon  my  mother,  who  was  without 
doubt  the  genius  of  the  party  in  arranging 
matters  and  straightening  out  difficulties. 

When  the  launch  from  the  steamer  arrived 
at  the  jetty  off  the  French  Bund,  we  were 


2 TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


met  by  the  Shanghai  Taotai  (the  highest  offi- 
cial in  the  city),  the  Shanghai  Magistrate  and 
numerous  other  officials,  all  dressed  in  their 
official  robes.  The  Taotai  told  my  father  that 
he  had  prepared  the  Tien  Ho  Gung  (Temple 
of  the  Queen  of  Heaven)  for  us  to  reside  in 
during  our  stay  in  Shanghai,  but  my  father 
refused  the  offer,  saying  that  he  had  tele- 
graphed from  Hong  Kong  and  made  all  ar- 
rangements to  go  to  the  Hotel  des  Colonies 
in  the  French  Concession.  We  had  had  pre- 
vious experience  staying  in  this  temple  while 
on  our  way  to  Japan,  where  my  father  went 
as  Minister  in  1895,  and  did  not  care  to  try  it 
a second  time.  The  building  is  very  old  and 
very  much  out  of  repair.  It  was  a beautiful 
place  in  its  prime,  but  had  been  allowed  to  go 
to  rack  and  ruin.  The  custom  is  that  the 
magistrate  has  to  find  a place  and  supply  the 
food,  etc.,  for  high  officials  when  passing 
through,  and  it  is  not  exactly  the  thing  to 
refuse  their  kind  offer,  but  my  father  was 
always  very  independent  and  politely  declined 
all  proffers  of  assistance. 

At  last  we  did  safely  arrive  in  the  Hotel 
des  Colonies,  where  my  father  found  awaiting 
him  two  telegrams  from  the  Imperial  Palace. 
These  telegrams  ordered  my  father  to  go  to 
Peking  at  once,  but,  as  the  river  to  Tientsin 


TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY  3 


was  frozen,  it  was  out  of  the  question  for  us  to 
go  by  that  route,  and  as  my  father  was  very 
old  and  quite  ill  at  that  time,  in  fact  con- 
stantly under  the  doctor’s  care,  the  only  acces- 
sible way,  via  Chinwangtao,  was  equally  out 
of  the  question,  as  it  was  a long  and  most 
tedious  journey  and  quite  beyond  his  strength. 
In  view  of  all  these  difficulties,  he  telegraphed 
that,  after  the  ice  had  broken  up  in  the  Peiho 
River,  we  would  come  by  the  first  steamer 
leaving  Shanghai  for  Tientsin. 

We  left  Shanghai  on  the  22d  of  February 
and  arrived  at  Tientsin  on  the  26th,  and,  as  be- 
fore, were  met  by  the  Customs  Taotai  of  the 
port  and  numerous  other  officials  (the  same  as 
when  we  arrived  at  Shanghai ) . 

There  is  a very  curious  custom  of  reverence, 
which  must  be  performed  by  all  high  officials 
on  their  return  from  abroad.  Immediately 
upon  landing  on  the  shores  of  China,  arrange- 
ments are  made  with  the  nearest  Viceroy  or 
Governor  to  receive  their  obeisance  to  Ching 
Sheng  An  (to  worship  the  Emperor  of  Peace), 
a Taotai  being  considered  of  too  low  a rank 
for  such  an  honor.  As  soon  as  we  arrived. 
Yuan  Shih  Kai,  who  was  then  Viceroy  of 
Chihli  Province  at  Tientsin,  sent  an  official 
to  my  father  to  prepare  the  time  and  place  for 
this  function,  which  is  an  extremely  pretty 


4 TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


one.  When  arrangements  had  been  made, 
both  my  father  and  Yuan  Shih  Kai  dressed 
in  their  full  ceremonial  robes,  which  is  the 
dragon  long  robe,  with  a reddish  black  three- 
quarter  length  coat  over  it,  chao  chu  (amber 
beads),  hat  with  peacock  feather  and  red  coral 
button,  and  repaired  at  once  to  the  Wan  Shou 
Kung  (10,000  years  palace),  which  is  especially 
built  for  functions  of  this  kind,  where  they 
were  met  by  a large  number  of  officials  of  the 
lower  grades.  At  the  back  centre  of  this 
Temple,  or  Palace,  stands  a very  long  narrow 
table  on  which  are  placed  the  tablets  of  the 
Emperor  and  Empress  Dowager,  on  which  is 
written,  “Wan  sway,  wan  sway,  wan  wan 
sway”  (10,000  years  times  10,000  years  times 
10,000  10,000  years).  The  Viceroy,  or  in  this 
case  Yuan  Shih  Kai,  and  the  other  officials 
arrived  first.  Yuan  stood  at  the  left  side  of 
this  table  and  the  others  arranged  themselves 
in  two  diminishing  lines  starting  from  the 
front  corners  of  the  table.  Soon  afterward  my 
father  came  and  knelt  directly  in  front  of  the 
centre  of  the  table  and  said,  “ Ah  ha  Ching 
Sheng  An  ” (Your  servant  gives  you  greet- 
ing). After  this  ceremony  was  over  my  father 
immediately  arose  and  inquired  after  Their 
Majesties’  health,  and  Yuan  replied  that  they 
were  quite  well.  This  closed  the  function. 


TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY  5 


We  stayed  in  Tientsin  for  three  days,  arriv- 
ing in  Peking  on  the  twenty-ninth.  My 
father’s  condition  was  much  worse  and  he 
begged  for  four  months’  leave  of  absence,  in 
which  to  recuperate,  which  was  granted  by 
Her  Majesty,  the  Empress  Dowager.  As  our 
beautiful  mansion,  which  we  had  built  and 
furnished  just  before  leaving  for  Paris,  was 
burned  during  the  Boxer  Rising  of  1900,  en- 
tailing a loss  of  over  taels  100,000,  we  rented 
and  moved  into  a Chinese  house.  Our  old 
house  was  not  entirely  new.  When  we  bought 
the  place  there  was  a very  fine  but  old  Chinese 
house,  the  palace  of  a Duke,  standing  on  the 
ground,  and  by  some  clever  re-arrangement 
and  building  on,  it  was  transformed  into  a beauti- 
ful foreign  style  house  with  all  the  fine  hard- 
wood carving  of  the  old  house  worked  into  it. 
By  using  the  words  “ foreign  style,”  it  is  meant 
that,  in  so  far  as  the  Chinese  house  could  be 
made  to  look  like  a foreign  house,  without 
tearing  it  down  entirely,  it  was  changed,  that  is 
the  doors  and  windows,  passageways,  furnish- 
ings, etc.,  were  foreign,  but  the  arrangement 
of  the  house  itself  and  courtyard  was  Chinese. 
This,  like  all  Chinese  houses  in  Peking,  was 
built  in  a very  rambling  fashion,  and  with  the 
gardens,  covered  about  ten  acres  of  ground. 
We  had  just  finished  furnishing  it  and  moved 


6 TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


in  only  four  days  when  we  left  for  Paris;  and  it 
has  always  been  a great  sorrow  to  my  family 
that  we  should  lose  this  magnificent  place,  after 
having  spent  so  much  time  and  money  in  build- 
ing and  beautifying  it.  However,  this  is  only 
one  of  the  many  trials  that  a high  official  in 
China  is  called  upon  to  bear. 

The  houses  in  Peking  are  built  in  a very 
rambling  fashion,  covering  a large  amount  of 
ground,  and  our  former  house  was  no  exception 
to  the  rule.  It  had  sixteen  small  houses,  one 
story  high,  containing  about  175  rooms,  ar- 
ranged in  quadrangles  facing  the  courtyard, 
which  went  to  make  up  the  whole;  and  so 
placed,  that  without  having  to  actually  go  out 
of  doors,  you  could  go  from  one  to  the  other 
by  verandas  built  along  the  front  and  enclosed 
:n  glass.  My  reader  will  wonder  what  possible 
use  we  could  make  of  all  of  these  rooms ; but  what 
with  our  large  family,  numerous  secretaries, 
Chinese  writers,  messengers,  servants,  mafoos 
(coachmen),  and  chair  coolies,  it  was  not  a 
difficult  task  to  use  them. 

The  gardens  surrounding  the  houses  were  ar- 
ranged in  the  Chinese  way,  with  small  lakes, 
stocked  with  gold  fish,  and  in  which  the  beauti- 
ful lotus  flower  grew;  crossed  by  bridges;  large 
weeping  willows  along  the  banks;  and  many 
different  varieties  of  flowers  in  prettily  arranged 


' TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY  7 


flower  beds,  running  along  winding  paths, 
which  wound  in  and  out  between  the  lakes.  At 
the  time  we  left  for  Paris,  in  the  month  of 
June,  1899,  the  gardens  were  a solid  mass  of 
flowers  and  foliage,  and  much  admired  by  all 
who  saw  them. 

As  we  now  had  no  place  of  our  own  in  Pe- 
king we  did  not  know  where  to  go,  so,  while  we 
were  at  Tientsin,  my  father  telegraphed  to  one 
of  his  friends  to  find  him  a house.  After  some 
little  trouble  one  was  secured,  and  it  turned 
out  to  be  a very  famous  place  indeed.  It  was 
the  house  where  Li  Hung  Chang  signed  the 
treaties  with  the  Foreign  Powers  after  the 
Boxer  Rising  and  also  where  he  died.  We 
were  the  first  people  to  live  there  since  the  death 
of  Li  Hung  Chang,  as  the  Chinese  people  were 
very  superstitious  and  were  afraid  that,  if  they 
went  there  to  live,  something  dreadful  would 
happen  to  them.  We  soon  made  ourselves  very 
comfortable,  and  while  we  lived  there,  none  of 
the  dreadful  things  happened  to  us  that  all  of 
our  good  friends  told  us  would  be  visited  upon 
us  if  we  dared  to  take  this  place.  However, 
in  view  of  our  having  lost  our  place  by  fire,  I 
am  inclined  to  think  that  their  fears  were  well 
founded. 

The  loss  sustained  by  having  this  house 
burned  wre  never  recovered,  as  my  father,  being 


8 TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


an  official  of  the  Government,  it  would  have 
been  very  bad  form  to  have  tried  to  recover 
this  money,  besides  a possible  loss  of  standing, 
as  Government  officials  are  supposed  never  to 
consider  themselves  or  families  in  the  service 
of  their  country,  and  any  private  losses  in  the 
service  must  be  borne  without  complaint. 

On  the  first  of  March,  1903,  Prince  Ching 
and  his  son,  Prince  Tsai  Chen,  came  to  see  us 
and  told  us  that  Her  Majesty  wished  to  see  my 
mother,  my  sister,  and  myself  at  once;  that  we 
should  be  at  the  Summer  Palace  (Wan  Shou 
Shan)  at  six  o’clock  the  following  morning. 
My  mother  told  Prince  Ching  that  we  had 
been  wearing  foreign  clothes  all  these  years, 
while  abroad,  and  had  no  suitable  Manchu 
clothes  to  wear.  He  replied  that  he  had  told 
Her  Majesty  all  about  us  and  also  mentioned 
that  he  had  seen  us  in  European  attire  and  she 
had  said  that  it  would  not  be  necessary  for  us 
to  wear  Manchu  costume  to  go  to  the  Palace, 
that  she  would  be  glad  to  have  us  wear  foreign 
clothes,  as  it  would  give  her  an  opportunity  to 
study  the  foreign  way  of  dressing.  Both  my 
sister  and  myself  had  a very  difficult  time  de- 
ciding what  we  should  wear  for  this  occasion; 
she  wished  to  wear  her  pale  blue  velvet  gown, 
as  she  thought  that  color  suited  her  the  best.  My 
mother  had  always  made  us  dress  exactly  alike. 


TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY  9 


ever  since  we  were  little  girls.  I said  that  I 
preferred  to  wear  my  red  velvet  gown,  as  I 
had  the  idea  it  might  please  Her  Majesty. 
After  a long  discussion  I had  my  way.  We 
had  lovely  red  hats  trimmed  with  plumes  and 
the  same  color  shoes,  and  stockings  to  match. 
My  mother  wore  a lovely  gown  of  sea  green 
chiffon  cloth  embroidered  with  pale  mauve  iris 
and  trimmed  with  mauve  velvet;  she  wore  her 
large  black  velvet  hat  with  long  white  plumes. 

As  we  lived  in  the  central  part  of  the  city 
and  the  only  means  of  travel  was  by  sedan  chair 
and  the  distance  from  our  house  to  the  Palace 
was  about  thirty-six  Chinese  li  (a  three-hour 
ride),  we  had  to  start  at  three  o’clock  in  the 
morning,  in  order  to  be  there  at  six.  As  this 
was  our  first  visit  to  the  Palace,  Prince  Ching’s 
message  threw  us  into  a great  state  of  excitement, 
and  we  were  naturally  anxious  to  look  our  best 
and  to  be  there  on  time.  It  had  been  the  dream 
of  my  life  to  go  to  the  Palace  and  see  what  it 
was  like,  and  up  to  this  time  I had  never  had 
an  opportunity,  as  most  of  my  life  had  been 
spent  out  of  Peking, — in  fact,  out  of  China. 
Another  reason  why  this  chance  had  never  come 
before  was,  that  my  father  had  never  registered 
our  names  (my  sister  and  myself)  in  the 
Government  book  for  the  registration  of  births 
of  Manchu  children,  in  consequence  of  which 


10  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


the  Empress  Dowager  did  not  know  until  we 
came  back  from  Paris  that  Lord  Yu  Keng  had 
any  daughters.  My  father  told  me  the  reason 
why  he  did  not  put  our  names  in  this  book 
was,  that  he  wished  to  give  us  the  best  education 
obtainable,  and  the  only  way  he  could  do  it  was 
not  to  let  the  Empress  Dowager  know.  Be- 
sides this,  according  to  the  Manchu  custom,  the 
daughters  of  all  Manchu  officials  of  the  second 
rank  and  above,  after  reaching  the  age  of  four- 
teen years,  should  go  to  the  Palace,  in  order 
that  the  Emperor  may  select  them  for  secondary 
wives  if  he  so  desires,  and  my  father  had  other 
plans  and  ambitions  for  us.  It  was  in  this  way 
that  the  late  Empress  Dowager  was  selected  by 
the  Emperor  Hsien  Feng. 

We  started  at  three  o’clock  that  morning  in 
total  darkness  riding  in  four  coolie  sedan  chairs, 
one  on  each  side  of  the  chair.  In  going  such  a 
long  distance  it  was  necessary  to  have  two  relays 
of  chair  coolies.  This  meant  twenty-four  coolies 
for  the  three  chairs,  not  counting  an  extra  coolie 
for  each  chair  who  acted  as  a sort  of  head  chair 
bearer.  Besides  this  there  were  three  military 
officers  on  horses,  one  for  each  chair  and  two 
servants  riding  at  the  back  of  each  chair.  In 
addition  there  wTere  three  big  Chinese  carts  fol- 
lowing behind  for  the  chair  coolies  to  ride  in  and 


INTRODUCTORY 


11 


rest.  This  made  a cavalcade  consisting  of  forty- 
five  men,  nine  horses  and  three  carts. 

I had  a rather  nervous  feeling  riding  along  in 
the  chair  surrounded  by  inky  blackness,  with 
nothing  to  relieve  the  stillness  of  the  night  but 
the  rough  voices  of  the  chair  bearers  calling  back 
and  forth  to  each  other  to  be  careful  of  stones 
and  holes  in  the  road,  which  was  very  uneven,  and 
the  clump,  clump  of  the  horses.  To  my  readers 
who  have  never  had  the  experience  of  riding  a 
long  distance  in  a sedan  chair  I would  say  that 
it  is  a most  uncomfortable  conveyance,  as  you 
have  to  sit  perfectly  still  and  absolutely  straight, 
otherwise  the  chair  is  liable  to  upset.  This  ride 
was  a very  long  one  and  I felt  quite  stiff  and 
tired  by  the  time  I reached  the  Palace  gates. 


CHAPTER  TWO 


AT  THE  PALACE 

When  we  reached  the  City  gates,  which  were 
about  half  way  between  our  house  and  the  Sum- 
mer Palace,  they  were  wide  open  for  us  to  pass. 
This  quite  surprised  us,  as  all  gates  are  closed 
at  seven  o’clock  in  the  evening  and  are  not  opened 
except  on  special  occasions  until  daylight.  We 
inquired  of  the  guard  why  this  was,  and  were 
told  that  orders  had  been  given  for  the  gates 
to  be  opened  for  us  to  pass.  The  officials  who 
had  charge  were  standing  in  a double  line  dressed 
in  full  official  dress  and  saluted  us  as  we  passed. 

It  was  still  quite  dark  when  we  had  passed 
through  the  gate  and  I thought  of  the  many 
experiences  of  my  short  life;  but  this  was  by  far 
the  strangest  of  them  all.  I wondered  what  Her 
Majesty  would  be  like  and  whether  she  would 
like  me  or  not.  We  were  told  that  probably  we 
would  be  asked  to  stay  at  the  Court,  and  I 
thought  that  if  that  came  to  pass,  I would  pos- 
sibly be  able  to  influence  Her  Majesty  in  favor 
of  reform  and  so  be  of  valuable  assistance  to 
China.  These  thoughts  made  me  feel  happy  and 

12 


AT  THE  PALACE 


13 


I made  up  my  mind  then  and  there  that  I would 
do  all  I could  and  use  any  influence  I might  have 
in  the  future  towards  the  advancement  of  China 
and  for  her  welfare.  While  I was  still  dream- 
ing of  these  pleasant  prospects,  a faint  red  line 
appeared  on  the  horizon  heralding  the  coming  of 
a most  perfect  day,  and  so  it  proved.  As  the 
light  grew  brighter  and  I could  distinguish  objects, 
a very  pretty  view  gradually  opened  to  me,  and 
as  we  came  nearer  to  the  Palace  I could  see  a 
high  red  wall  which  zigzagged  from  hill  to  hill 
and  enclosed  the  Palace  grounds.  The  tops  of 
the  wall  and  buildings  were  covered  with  yellow 
and  green  tiles  and  made  a most  dazzling  picture 
in  the  bright  sunlight.  Pagodas  of  different 
sizes  and  styles  were  passed,  and  when  we  arrived 
at  the  village  of  ITai  Tien,  about  four  li  from 
the  Palace  gates,  we  were  told  by  the  officers 
we  only  had  a short  distance  further  to  go.  This 
was  good  news,  as  I began  to  think  we  would 
never  get  there.  This  village  was  quite  a pretty 
country  place  of  one-story  houses  built  of  brick, 
which  were  very  neat  and  clean  as  are  most  of 
the  houses  in  the  northern  part  of  China.  The 
children  trouped  out  to  see  the  procession  pass, 
and  I heard  one  remark  to  another:  “Those  ladies 
are  going  to  the  Palace  to  become  Empresses,” 
which  amused  me  very  much. 

Soon  after  leaving  Hai  Tien  we  came  to  a pai 


14-  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


lou  (archway),  a very  beautiful  piece  of  old 
Chinese  architecture  and  carved  work,  and  from 
here  got  our  first  view  of  the  Palace  gates,  which 
were  about  100  yards  ahead.  These  gates  are 
cut  into  the  solid  wall  surrounding  the  Palace 
and  consist  of  one  very  large  gate  in  the  center 
and  two  smaller  ones  on  each  side.  The  center 
gate  is  only  opened  when  their  Majesties  pass 
in  and  out  of  the  Palace.  Our  chairs  were  set 
down  in  front  of  the  left  gate,  which  was  open. 
Outside  of  these  gates,  at  a distance  of  about  500 
yards,  were  two  buildings  where  the  guard  stayed 
at  night. 

Just  as  we  arrived  I saw  a number  of  officials 
talking  excitedly,  and  some  of  them  went  into  the 
gate  shouting  “Li  la,  doula”  (have  come,  have 
arrived).  When  we  got  out  of  our  chairs,  we 
were  met  by  two  eunuchs  of  the  fourth  rank 
(chrystal  button  and  feather).  This  feather 
which  is  worn  by  eunuchs  of  the  fourth  rank, 
comes  from  a bird  called  the  magh  (horse-fowl) 
which  is  found  in  Szechuen  Province.  They  are 
grey  and  are  dyed  black,  and  are  much  wider  than 
the  peacock  feather.  These  two  eunuchs  were 
accompanied  by  ten  small  eunuchs  carrying  yel- 
low silk  screens,  which  they  placed  around  our 
chairs  when  we  alighted.  It  appeared  that  Her 
Majesty  had  given  orders  that  these  screens 
(huang  wai  mor)  should  be  brought  to  us.  This 


North  View  of  the  Summer  Palace 


Pai  Lou  (Archway) — Summer  Palace 


AT  THE  PALACE 


15 


is  considered  a great  honor.  They  were  ten  feet 
long  and  twenty  feet  high  and  were  held  by  two  • 
eunuchs. 

These  two  eunuchs  of  high  rank  were  extremely 
polite  and  stood  at  each  side  of  the  gate  and 
invited  us  to  enter.  Passing  through  this  gate 
we  came  into  a very  large  paved  courtyard  about 
three  hundred  feet  square,  in  which  there  were  a 
great  many  small  flower  beds  and  old  pine  trees 
from  which  hung  all  kinds  of  birds  in  cages.  On 
the  side  opposite  to  the  gates  we  had  entered  was 
a red  brick  wall  with  three  gates  exactly  like  the 
others ; on  the  right  and  left  side  were  long  rows 
of  low  buildings  each  containing  twelve  rooms, 
used  as  waiting  rooms.  The  courtyard  was  full 
of  people  dressed  in  official  robes  of  the  different 
ranks,  and,  after  the  Chinese  fashion,  all  seemed 
to  be  very  busy  doing  nothing.  When  they  saw 
us  they  stood  still  and  stared.  The  two  eunuchs 
who  were  showing  us  the  way  conducted  us  to 
one  of  these  rooms.  This  room  was  about  twenty 
feet  square,  just  ordinarily  furnished  in  black 
wood  furniture  with  red  cloth  cushions  and  silk 
curtains  hanging  from  the  three  windows.  We 
were  not  in  this  room  more  than  five  minutes 
when  a gorgeously  dressed  eunuch  came  and  said : 
“Imperial  Edict  says  to  invite  Yu  tai  tai  (Lady 
Yii)  and  young  ladies  to  wait  in  the  East  side 
Palace.”  On  his  saying  this,  the  two  eunuchs 


16  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


who  were  with  us  knelt  down  and  replied  “Jur” 
(Yes).  Whenever  Her  Majesty  gives  an  order 
it  is  considered  an  Imperial  Edict  or  command 
and  all  servants  are  required  to  kneel  when  any 
command  is  transmitted  to  them  the  same  as  they 
would  if  in  Her  Majesty’s  presence.  Then  they 
told  us  to  follow  them  and  we  went  through  an- 
other left  gate  to  another  courtyard  laid  out 
exactly  the  same  as  the  former,  except  that  the 
Ren  Shou  Dien  (audience  hall)  is  situated  on 
the  north  side  and  the  other  buildings  were  a 
little  larger.  The  eunuchs  showed  us  into  the 
east  side  building,  which  was  beautifully  fur- 
nished with  reddish  blackwood  exquisitely  carved, 
the  chairs  and  tables  covered  with  blue  satin 
and  the  walls  hung  with  the  same  material. 
In  different  parts  of  the  room  were  fourteen 
clocks  of  all  sizes  and  shapes.  I know  this,  for 
I counted  them. 

In  a little  while  two  servant  girls  came  and 
waited  on  us  and  told  us  that  Her  Majesty  was 
dressing  and  that  we  were  to  wait  a little  time. 
This  little  time  proved  to  he  a matter  of  more 
than  two  hours  and  a half,  but  as  this  is  con- 
sidered nothing  in  China,  we  did  not  get  impa- 
tient. From  time  to  time  eunuchs  came  and 
brought  milk  to  drink  and  about  twenty  or  more 
dishes  of  various  kinds  of  food  which  Her 
Majesty  sent.  She  also  sent  us  each  a gold  ring 


AT  THE  PALACE 


IT 


with  a large  pearl  in  the  center.  Later  the  chief 
eunuch,  Li  Lien  Ying,  came  dressed  in  his  official 
clothes.  He  was  of  the  second  rank  and  wore 
a red  button  and  peacock  feather  and  was  the 
only  eunuch  that  was  ever  allowed  to  wear  the 
peacock  feather.  He  was  a very  ugly  man,  very 
old  and  his  face  wras  full  of  wrinkles;  but  he  had 
beautiful  manners  and  said  that  Her  Majesty 
would  receive  us  in  a little  while,  and  brought 
us  each  a jade  ring  which  she  had  sent  us.  We 
were  very  much  surprised  that  she  should  give 
us  such  beautiful  presents  before  she  had  even 
seen  us,  and  felt  most  kindly  disposed  toward 
her  for  her  generosity. 

Soon  after  Li  Lien  Ying  had  gone,  two  court 
ladies,  daughters  of  Prince  Ching,  came  in  and 
asked  the  eunuchs  who  were  attending  us  if  we 
could  speak  Chinese,  which  we  thought  a great 
joke.  I was  the  first  one  to  speak,  and  told 
them  of  course  we  could  speak  our  own  language, 
although  we  knew  several  others.  They  were 
very  much  surprised  and  said : “Oh ! how  funny, 
they  can  talk  the  language  as  well  as  we  do.” 
We  in  turn  were  very  much  surprised  to  find 
such  ignorant  people  in  the  Imperial  Palace  and 
concluded  that  their  opportunities  for  acquiring 
knowledge  were  very  limited.  Then  they  told 
us  Her  Majesty  was  waiting  to  receive  us,  and 
we  went  immediately. 


18  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


After  walking  through  three  courtyards  very 
similar  to  those  we  had  previously  passed  through, 
we  came  to  a magnificent  building  just  one  mass 
of  exquisite  carving.  Large  lanterns  made  of 
buffalo  horns  hung  all  over  the  veranda  cov- 
ered with  red  silk  from  which  red  silk  tassels  were 
hanging  and  from  each  of  these  tassels  was  sus- 
pended a beautiful  piece  of  jade.  There  were 
two  smaller  buildings  flanking  this  large  one,  also 
one  mass  of  carvings  and  hung  with  lanterns. 

At  the  door  of  the  large  building  we  met  a 
lady,  dressed  the  same  as  Prince  Ching’s  daugh- 
ters, with  the  exception  that  she  had  a phoenix 
in  the  center  of  her  headdress  which  distin- 
guished her  from  the  others.  This  lady  came  out 
to  meet  us,  smiling,  and  shook  hands  with  us  in 
the  most  approved  foreign  fashion.  We  were 
told  later  that  this  wTas  the  Young  Empress,  wife 
of  the  Emperor  Ivwang  Hsu.  She  said:  “Her 
Majesty  has  sent  me  to  meet  you,”  and  wras  very 
sweet  and  polite,  and  had  beautiful  manners;  but 
was  not  very  pretty.  Then  we  heard  a loud  voice 
from  the  hall  saying,  “Tell  them  to  come  in  at 
once.”  We  went  into  this  hall  immediately  and 
saw  an  old  lady  dressed  in  a beautiful  yellow 
satin  gown  embroidered  all  over  with  pink 
peonies,  and  wearing  the  same  kind  of  headdress 
with  flowers  on  each  side  made  of  pearls  and  jade, 
a pearl  tassel  on  the  left  side  and  a beautiful 


AT  THE  PALACE 


19 


phoenix  in  the  center  made  of  purest  j ade.  Over 
her  gown  she  wore  a cape,  the  most  magnificent 
and  costly  thing  I ever  saw.  This  cape  was  made 
of  about  three  thousand  five  hundred  pearls  the 
size  of  a canary  bird’s  egg,  all  exactly  alike  in 
color  and  perfectly  round.  It  was  made  on  the 
fish  net  pattern  and  had  a fringe  of  jade  pend- 
ants and  was  joined  with  two  pure  jade  clasps. 
In  addition  to  this  Her  Majesty  wore  two  pairs 
of  pearl  bracelets,  one  pair  of  jade  bracelets, 
several  jade  rings  and  on  her  third  and  little 
fingers  of  her  right  hand  she  wore  gold  finger 
nail  protectors  about  three  inches  long  and  on 
the  left  hand  two  finger  nail  protectors  made  of 
jade  and  about  the  same  length.  Her  shoes  were 
trimmed  with  small  tassels  made  of  pearls  and 
embroidered  with  tiny  pieces  of  different  colored 
jade. 

Her  Majesty  stood  up  when  she  saw  us  and 
shook  hands  with  us.  She  had  a most  fasci- 
nating smile  and  was  very  much  surprised  that  we 
knew  the  Court  etiquette  so  well.  After  she  had 
greeted  us,  she  said  to  my  mother:  “Yu  tai  tai 
( Lady  Yii ) , you  are  a wonder  the  way  you  have 
brought  your  daughters  up.  They  speak  Chinese 
just  as  well  as  I do,  although  I know  they  have 
been  abroad  for  so  many  years,  and  how  is  it 
that  they  have  such  beautiful  manners?”  “Their 
father  was  always  very  strict  with  them,”  my 


20  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


mother  replied;  “he  made  them  study  their  own 
language  first  and  they  had  to  study  very  hard.” 
“I  am  pleased  to  hear  their  father  has  been  so 
careful  with  them,”  Her  Majesty  said,  “and 
given  them  such  a fine  education.”  She  took  my 
hands  and  looked  into  my  face  and  smiled  and 
kissed  me  on  both  cheeks  and  said  to  my  mother : 
“I  wish  to  have  your  daughters  and  hope  they 
will  stay  with  me.”  We  were  very  much  pleased 
at  this  and  thanked  her  for  her  kindness.  Her 
Majesty  asked  all  sorts  of  questions  about  our 
Paris  gowns  and  said  we  must  wear  them  all 
the  time,  as  she  had  very  little  chance  to  see  them 
at  the  Court.  She  was  particularly  in  love  with 
our  Louis  XV  high  heel  shoes.  While  we  were 
talking  to  her  wre  saw  a gentleman  standing  at  a 
little  distance  and  after  a while  she  said,  “Let 
me  introduce  you  to  the  Emperor  Kwang  Hsu, 
but  you  must  call  him  Wan  Sway  Yell  (Master 
of  10,000  years)  and  call  me  Lao  Tsu  Tsung 
(the  Great  Ancestor).”  His  Majesty  shyly 
shook  hands  with  us.  He  was  a man  about  five 
feet,  seven  inches  in  height,  very  thin,  but  with 
very  strong  features;  high  nose  and  forehead, 
large,  brilliant  black  eyes,  strong  mouth,  very 
white,  even  teeth;  altogether  good  looking.  I 
noticed  he  had  a very  sad  look,  although  he  was 
smiling  all  the  time  we  were  there.  At  this 


AT  THE  PALACE 


21 


juncture  the  head  eunuch  came,  knelt  down  on 
the  marble  floor  and  announced  that  Her 
Majesty’s  chair  was  ready  and  she  asked  us  to 
go  with  her  to  the  Audience  Hall,  distant  about 
two  minutes’  walk,  where  she  was  going  to 
receive  the  heads  of  the  different  Boards.  It 
was  a beautiful  day  and  her  open  chair  was  wait- 
ing. This  chair  is  carried  by  eight  eunuchs  all 
dressed  in  official  robes,  a most  unusual  sight. 
The  head  eunuch  walked  on  her  left  side  and  the 
second  eunuch  on  her  right  side,  each  with  a 
steadying  hand  on  the  chair  pole.  F our  eunuchs 
of  the  fifth  rank  in  front  and  twelve  eunuchs  of 
the  sixth  rank  walked  behind.  Each  eunuch 
carried  something  in  his  hand,  such  as  Her 
Majesty’s  clothes,  shoes,  handkerchiefs,  combs, 
brushes,  powder  boxes,  looking  glasses  of  dif- 
ferent sizes,  perfumes,  pins,  black  and  red  ink, 
yellow  paper,  cigarettes,  water  pipes,  and  the 
last  one  carried  her  yellow  satin-covered  stool. 
Besides  this  there  were  two  amahs  (old  women 
servants)  and  four  servant  girls  all  carrying 
something.  This  procession  was  most  interest- 
ing to  see  and  made  one  think  it  a lady’s  dressing 
room  on  legs.  The  Emperor  walked  on  Her 
Majesty’s  right  and  the  Young  Empress  on  the 
left,  as  did  also  the  Court  ladies. 

The  Audience  Hall  was  about  two  hundred 


22  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 

feet  long  by  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
wide,  and  at  the  left  side  was  a long  table  cov- 
ered with  yellow  satin.  When  Her  Majesty 
came  down  from  the  chair  she  went  into  the  Hall 
and  mounted  her  throne  just  behind  this  table, 
and  His  Majesty  mounted  a smaller  one  at  her 
left  side,  the  Ministers  all  kneeling  on  the  floor 
in  front  of  her  and  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
table. 

At  the  back  of  the  Hall  was  a large  dais  about 
twenty  feet  long  by  about  eighteen  feet  wide, 
enclosed  by  a magnificently  carved  railing  about 
two  feet  high  running  all  the  way  round,  open 
only  in  the  front  in  two  places  just  large  enough 
for  a person  to  pass  through.  These  two  open- 
ings were  reached  by  a flight  of  six  steps.  At 
the  back  of  this  dais  was  a small  screen  and  im- 
mediately in  front  of  this,  in  the  center,  was  Her 
Majesty’s  throne.  Immediately  behind  was  an 
immense  carved  wood  screen,  the  most  beautiful 
thing  I ever  saw,  twenty  feet  long  by  ten  feet 
high.  In  front  of  Her  Majesty’s  throne  was  a 
long  narrow  table.  At  the  left  side  was  a smaller 
throne  for  the  Emperor. 

The  theme  of  the  carving  and  furnishings  of 
this  dais  was  the  phoenix  and  peony  most  exqui- 
sitely carved  in  ebony  wood,  in  fact  the  theme 
of  the  entire  room  was  the  same.  On  each  side 
of  Her  Majesty’s  throne  were  two  upright  ebony 


The  Empress  Dowager  in  her  one  hundred  butterfly  robe, 
beneatli  which  can  be  seen  one  of  her  shoes  trimmed 
with  pearls  and  other  precious  stones 


L 


AT  THE  PALACE 


23 


poles  on  the  top  of  which  were  peacock  feathers 
made  into  the  shape  of  a fan.  The  upholstery 
was  entirely  of  yellow  Chinese  velvet. 

Just  before  Her  Majesty  took  her  seat  on  her 
throne  she  ordered  us  to  go  behind  this  screen 
with  the  Young  Empress  and  the  Court  ladies. 
This  we  did,  and  could  hear  the  conversation 
between  Her  Majesty  and  the  Ministers  very 
plainly,  and  as  my  readers  will  see  later,  I made 
good  use  of  this. 


CHAPTER  THREE 


A PLAY  AT  THE  COURT 

This  day  to  me  was  a medley  of  brilliant  im- 
pressions. I was  a great  novelty  among  these 
exclusive  Court  ladies,  brought  up  rigidly  apart 
from  foreign  life  and  customs,  and  I was  sub- 
jected to  a rapid  fire  of  questions.  I soon  found 
that  these  women  were  the  same  as  others  the 
world  over  in  point  of  curiosity  and  love  of  gos- 
sip. The  fourth  daughter  of  Princfe  Ching  ( Sze 
Gurgur),  a young  widow  and  a strikingly  hand- 
some woman,  spoke  to  me.  “Were  you  brought 
up  in  Europe  and  educated?”  she  asked.  “I  am 
told  that  when  people  go  to  that  country  and 
drink  the  water  there,  they  quickly  forget  their 
own  country.  Did  you  really  study  to  acquire 
all  those  languages  or  was  it  drinking  the  water 
that  gave  them  to  you?”  I mentioned  that  I met 
her  brother,  Prince  Tsai  Chen,  in  Paris  on  his 
way  to  London  for  the  coronation  of  King  Ed- 
ward, and  that  we  should  have  liked  to  have  gone 
also,  as  my  father  had  a special  invitation,  but 
were  prevented  from  doing  so  by  his  urgent  duties 
in  Paris  in  settling  the  Yunnan  question,  to  which 

24 . 


A PLAY  AT  THE  COURT 


25 


the  Princess  replied:  “Is  there  a king  in  Eng- 
land ? I had  thought  that  our  Empress  Dowager 
was  Queen  of  the  world.”  Her  sister,  wife  of 
the  brother  of  the  Young  Empress,  a most  intelli- 
gent, quiet  and  dignified  lady,  stood  by  smiling 
and  listening  to  the  eager  questions.  After 
numerous  questions  had  been  asked  the  Young 
Empress  finally  said:  “How  ignorant  you  are. 
I know  that  each  country  has  its  ruler  and  that 
some  countries  are  republics.  The  United 
States  is  a republic  and  very  friendly  toward 
us,  but  I am  sorry  that  such  a common  class 
of  people  go  there,  as  they  will  think  we  are  all 
the  same.  What  I should  like  to  see  is  some 
of  our  good  Manchu  people  go,  as  then  they 
would  see  what  we  really  are.”  She  afterwards 
told  me  she  had  been  reading  a history  of  the 
different  countries,  which  had  been  translated 
into  Chinese,  and  she  seemed  to  be  very  well 
informed. 

After  the  Audience  was  over,  Her  Majesty 
called  us  out  from  behind  the  screen  and  told 
us  to  go  with  her  to  see  the  theatre.  She  said, 
as  it  was  such  a beautiful  day,  she  preferred  to 
walk,  so  we  started,  walking  a little  behind  her, 
as  is  the  custom.  Along  the  way  she  pointed 
out  from  time  to  time  different  places  and  things 
that  were  her  particular  favorites,  and  as  she  had 
to  keep  turning  around  all  the  time,  she  finally 


26  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


told  us  to  come  and  walk  alongside  of  her.  This, 
as  I afterwards  found  out,  was  a great  conde- 
scension on  her  part  and  a thing  that  she  very 
seldom  ever  did.  She,  like  everybody  else,  had 
her  pets  and  hobbies,  such  as  flowers,  trees, 
plants,  dogs,  horses,  etc.,  and  there  was  one  dog 
in  particular  that  was  her  favorite  pet.  This 
dog  was  with  Her  Majesty  always  and  followed 
her  wherever  she  went,  and  a more  homely  dog 
I never  saw.  It  had  absolutely  nothing  to  rec- 
ommend it  in  any  way.  Her  Majesty  thought 
it  beautiful,  and  called  it  Shui  Ta  (Sea  Otter). 

A short  distance  from  the  Audience  Hall  we 
came  to  a large  courtyard.  On  each  side  of  this 
courtyard  were  two  immense  baskets  fifteen  feet 
in  height,  built  of  natural  logs  and  literally  cov- 
ered with  purple  wisteria.  They  were  simply 
gorgeous  and  great  favorites  of  Her  Majesty. 
She  was  always  very  proud  of  them  when  in 
bloom  and  took  great  delight  in  showing  them 
to  the  people. 

From  this  courtyard  we  entered  a sort  of 
passageway  which  ran  along  the  sides  of  a big 
hill  and  led  directly  to  the  theatre,  where  we  soon 
arrived.  This  theatre  is  quite  unlike  anything 
that  you  can  imagine.  It  is  built  around  the  four 
sides  of  an  open  courtyard,  each  side  being  sep- 
arate and  distinct.  The  building  has  five  stories. 
It  is  entirely  open  on  the  front  and  has  two 


A PLAY  AT  THE  COURT 


27 


stages,  one  above  the  other.  The  three  top  stories 
are  used  for  holding  the  drops  and  for  store 
rooms.  The  stage  on  the  first  floor  is  of  the 
ordinary  kind;  but  that  on  the  second  floor  is 
built  to  represent  a temple  and  used  when  play- 
ing religious  plays,  of  which  Her  Majesty  was 
very  fond. 

On  the  two  sides  were  long,  low  buildings 
with  large  verandas  running  their  entire  length, 
where  the  Princes  and  Ministers  sat  when  invited 
by  Her  Majesty  to  witness  the  play.  Directly 
opposite  this  stage  was  a spacious  building,  con- 
taining three  large  rooms,  which  was  used  exclu- 
sively by  Her  Majesty.  The  floor  was  raised 
about  ten  feet  above  the  ground,  which  brought 
it  on  a level  with  the  stage.  Large  glass  win- 
dows ran  along  in  front,  so  made  that  they  could 
be  removed  in  the  summer  and  replaced  with 
pale  blue  gauze  screens.  Two  of  these  rooms 
were  used  as  sitting  rooms  and  the  third,  the  one 
on  the  right,  she  used  as  a bedroom,  and  it  had 
a long  couch  running  across  the  front,  on  which 
she  used  to  sit  or  lie  according  to  her  mood.  This 
day  she  invited  us  to  go  to  this  room  with  her. 
Later  I was  told  that  she  would  very  often  come 
to  this  room,  look  at  the  play  for  a while  and 
then  take  her  siesta.  She  could  certainly  sleep 
soundly,  for  the  din  and  noise  did  not  disturb 
her  in  the  least.  If  any  of  my  readers  have  ever 


28  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


been  to  a Chinese  theatre,  they  can  well  imagine 
how  difficult  it  would  be  to  woo  the  God  of  Sleep 
in  such  a pandemonium. 

As  soon  as  we  were  in  this  bedroom  the  play 
commenced.  It  was  a religious  play  called  “The 
Empress  of  Heaven’s  Party  or  Feast  to  all  the 
Buddhist  Priests  to  eat  her  famous  peaches  and 
drink  her  best  wine.”  This  party  or  feast  is 
given  on  the  third  day  of  the  third  moon  of  each 
year. 

The  first  act  opens  with  a Buddhist  Priest, 
dressed  in  a yellow  coat  robe  with  a red  scarf 
draped  over  his  left  shoulder,  descending  in  a 
cloud  from  Heaven  to  invite  all  the  priests  to 
this  party.  I was  very  much  surprised  to  see 
this  actor  apparently  suspended  in  the  air  and 
actually  floating  on  this  cloud,  which  was  made 
of  cotton.  The  clever  way  in  which  they  moved 
the  scenery,  etc.,  was  most  interesting,  and  before 
the  play  was  finished  I concluded  that  any 
theatre  manager  could  well  take  lessons  from 
these  people;  and  it  was  all  done  without  the 
slightest  bit  of  machinery. 

As  this  Buddhist  Priest  was  descending,  a large 
pagoda  began  to  slowly  rise  from  the  center  of 
the  stage  in  which  was  a buddha  singing  and 
holding  an  incense  burner  in  front  of  him.  Then 
four  other  smaller  pagodas  slowly  rose  from  the 
four  corners  of  the  stage,  each  containing  a 


A PLAY  AT  THE  COURT 


29 


buddha  the  same  as  the  first.  When  the  first 
Buddhist  Priest  had  descended,  the  five  buddhas 
came  out  of  the  pagodas,  which  immediately  dis- 
appeared, and  walked  about  the  stage,  still  sing- 
ing. Gradually  from  the  wing  came  numbers 
of  buddhas  singing  until  the  stage  was  full,  and 
they  all  formed  into  a ring.  Then  I saw  a large 
lotus  flower,  made  of  pink  silk,  and  two  large 
green  leaves  appearing  from  the  bottom  of  the 
stage,  and  as  it  rose  the  petals  and  leaves  grad- 
ually opened  and  I saw  a beautiful  lady  buddha 
(Goddess  of  Mercy)  dressed  all  in  white  silk, 
with  a white  hood  on  her  head,  standing  in  the 
center  of  this  flower.  As  the  leaves  opened  I 
saw  a girl  and  a boy  in  the  center  of  them. 
When  the  petals  of  the  lotus  flower  were  wide 
open  this  lady  buddha  began  to  gradually 
ascend  herself,  and  as  she  ascended,  the  petals 
closed  until  she  seemed  to  be  standing  on  a lotus 
bud.  The  girl  standing  in  the  leaf  on  the  God- 
dess’ right  side  held  a bottle  made  of  jade  and 
a willow  branch.  The  legend  of  this  is  that  if 
the  Goddess  dips  the  willow  branch  into  the  jade 
bottle  and  spreads  it  over  a dead  person  it  will 
bring  the  person  to  life.  The  boy  and  the  girl 
are  the  two  attendants  of  the  buddha. 

Finally  the  three  came  down  from  the  flower 
and  leaves  and  joined  the  rest  of  the  bud- 
dhas. Then  the  Empress  of  Heaven  came,  a 


SO  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


good  old  lady  with  snow-white  hair,  dressed  from 
head  to  foot  in  Imperial  yellow,  followed  by  many 
attendants,  and  ascended  the  throne,  which  was 
in  the  center  of  the  stage,  and  said : “We  will  go 
to  the  banquet  hall.”  This  ended  the  first  scene. 

The  second  scene  opened  with  tables  set  for 
the  feast  to  be  given  by  the  Empress  of  Heaven. 
These  tables  were  loaded  down  with  peaches  and 
wine  and  four  attendants  guarding  them.  Sud- 
denly a bee  came  buzzing  near  and  scattered  a 
powder  under  the  nostrils  of  the  attendants, 
which  made  them  sleepy.  When  they  had  fallen 
asleep,  this  bee  transformed  itself  into  a big 
monkey  and  this  monkey  ate  all  the  peaches  and 
drank  all  the  wine.  As  soon  as  he  had  finished 
he  disappeared. 

A blast  of  trumpets  announced  the  coming  of 
the  Empress  of  Heaven  and  she  soon  arrived 
accompanied  by  all  the  Buddhist  Priests  and 
their  attendants.  When  the  Empress  of  Heaven 
saw  all  the  peaches  and  wine  had  disappeared, 
she  woke  the  attendants  and  asked  them  why 
they  were  asleep  and  where  the  peaches  and  wine 
had  gone.  They  said  that  they  did  not  know, 
that  they  were  wraiting  for  her  to  come  and  fell 
asleep.  Then  one  of  the  guests  suggested  that 
she  should  find  out  what  had  become  of  the  feast, 
and  attendants  were  sent  out  to  the  guard  to  find 
out  from  the  soldiers  if  anyone  had  gone  out  of 


A PLAY  AT  THE  COURT 


31 

the  gate  recently.  Before  the  messenger  had 
time  to  return,  the  Guard  of  Heaven  came  and 
informed  the  Empress  that  a big  monkey,  who 
was  very  drunk  and  carrying  a big  stick,  had  just 
gone  out  of  the  gate.  When  she  was  told  this, 
she  ordered  the  soldiers  of  heaven  and  several 
buddhas  to  go  and  find  him  at  his  place.  It 
seems  that  this  monkey  had  originally  been  made 
from  a piece  of  stone  and  lived  in  a large  hole 
in  a mountain  on  the  earth.  He  was  endowed 
with  supernatural  powers  and  could  walk  on  the 
clouds.  He  was  allowed  to  come  to  heaven  and 
the  Empress  of  Heaven  gave  him  a position  look- 
ing after  the  Imperial  orchards. 

When  they  got  to  his  place  on  the  earth,  they 
found  that  he  had  taken  some  of  the  peaches  with 
him  and  he,  with  other  monkeys,  was  having  a 
feast.  The  soldiers  challenged  him  to  come  out 
and  fight.  He  immediately  accepted  this  chal- 
lenge, but  the  soldiers  could  do  nothing  with  him. 
He  pulled  the  hair  out  of  his  coat  and  trans- 
formed each  hair  into  a little  monkey  and  each 
monkey  had  an  iron  rod  in  its  hand.  He  him- 
self had  a special  iron  rod,  which  had  been  given 
to  him  by  the  King  of  Sea  Dragons.  This  rod 
he  could  make  any  size  he  wanted  from  a needle 
to  a crowbar. 

Among  the  buddhas  who  had  gone  with  the 
soldiers  was  one  named  Erh  Lang  Yeh,  who  was 


32  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


the  most  powerful  of  them  all  and  had  three  eyes. 
This  buddha  had  a dog  which  was  very  powerful 
and  he  told  the  dog  to  bite  this  monkey,  which  he 
did,  and  the  monkey  fell  down  and  they  caught 
him  and  brought  him  up  to  heaven.  When  they 
got  there  the  Empress  of  Heaven  ordered  that 
he  should  be  handed  to  Lao  Chun,  an  old  taoist 
god,  and  that  he  should  burn  him  in  his  incense 
burner.  The  incense  burner  was  very  large,  and 
when  they  took  the  monkey  to  him  he  placed  him 
inside  this  burner  and  watched  him  very  care- 
fully to  see  that  he  did  not  get  out.  After  he 
had  watched  for  a long  time  he  thought  the 
monkey  must  be  dead  and  went  out  for  a few 
minutes.  The  monkey,  however,  was  not  dead 
and  as  soon  as  Lao  Chun  went  out,  he  escaped 
and  stole  some  golden  pills  which  Lao  Chun  kept 
in  a gourd  and  went  back  to  his  hole  in  the  moun- 
tains. These  pills  were  very  powerful  and  if  one 
of  them  were  eaten  it  w’ould  give  eternal  life, 
and  the  monkey  knew  this.  The  monkey  ate  one 
and  it  tasted  good  and  he  gave  the  little  monkeys 
some.  When  Lao  Chun  came  back  and  found 
both  the  monkey  and  the  pills  gone  he  went  and 
informed  the  Empress  of  Heaven.  This  ended 
the  second  scene. 

The  third  scene  opened  with  the  buddhas  and 
soldiers  at  the  monkey’s  place  in  the  mountains 
and  they  again  asked  him  to  come  out  and  fight. 


A PLAY  AT  THE  COURT 


33 


The  monkey  said:  “What ! Coming  again?”  and 
laughed  at  them.  They  started  to  fight  again, 
but  he  was  so  strong  they  could  not  get  the  best 
of  him.  Even  the  dog  who  had  bit  him  before 
was  powerless  this  time,  and  they  finally  gave 
it  up  and  returned  to  heaven  and  told  the 
Empress  of  Heaven  that  they  could  not  capture 
him  the  second  time,  as  he  was  too  strong.  Then 
the  Empress  of  Heaven  called  a,  little  god  about 
fifteen  years  old  by  the  name  of  Neur  Cha,  who 
had  supernatural  powers,  and  told  him  to  go  down 
to  earth  to  the  monkey’s  place  and  see  if  he  could 
finish  him.  This  god  was  made  of  lotus  flowers 
and  leaves,  that  is,  his  bones  were  made  of  flowers 
and  his  flesh  made  of  leaves  and  he  could  trans- 
form himself  into  anything  that  he  wished. 
When  Neur  Cha  got  to  the  monkey’s  place  and 
the  monkey  saw  him,  he  said:  “What!  A little 
boy  like  you  come  to  fight  me?  Well,  if  you 
think  you  can  beat  me,  come  on,”  and  the  boy 
transformed  himself  into  an  immense  man  with 
three  heads  and  six  arms.  When  the  monkey 
saw  this,  he  transformed  himself  also  into  the 
same  thing.  When  the  little  god  saw  that  this 
would  not  do,  he  transformed  himself  into  a very 
big  man  and  started  to  take  the  monkey,  but  the 
monkey  transformed  himself  into  a very  large 
sword  and  cut  this  man  into  two  pieces.  The 
little  god  again  transformed  himself  into  fire 


34  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


to  burn  the  monkey,  but  the  monkey  transformed 
himself  into  water  and  put  the  fire  out.  Again 
the  little  god  transformed  himself,  this  time  into 
a very  fierce  lion,  but  the  monkey  transformed 
himself  into  a big  net  to  catch  the  lion.  So  this 
little  god,  seeing  that  he  could  not  get  the  best 
of  the  monkey,  gave  it  up  and  went  back  to 
heaven,  and  told  the  Empress  of  Heaven  that 
the  monkey  was  too  strong  for  him.  The  Em- 
press of  Heaven  was  in  despair,  so  she  sent  for 
Ju  Li,  an  old  ancestor  of  the  buddhas,  who  was 
the  all-powerful  one  of  them  all;  and  Kuan  Yin, 
Goddess  of  Mercy,  and  sent  them  down  to  the 
monkey’s  place  to  see  if  they  could  capture  him. 
When  they  arrived  at  the  hole  in  the  mountain 
the  monkey  came  out  and  looked  at  Ju  Li,  but 
did  not  say  a word,  as  he  knew  who  this  god  was. 
This  god  pointed  a finger  at  him  and  he  knelt 
down  and  submitted.  Ju  Li  said:  “Come  with 
me,”  and  took  the  monkey  and  put  him  under 
another  mountain  and  told  him  he  would  have 
to  stay  there  until  he  promised  he  would  be  good. 
Ju  Li  said:  “You  stay  here  until  one  day  I lift 
this  mountain  up  for  you  to  come  out  to  go  with 
a Buddhist  Priest  to  the  West  side  of  heaven  and 
demand  the  prayer  books  that  are  kept  there. 
You  will  have  to  suffer  a great  deal  on  the  way 
and  face  many  dangers,  but  if  you  come  back 
with  this  Buddhist  Priest  and  the  prayer  books, 


A PLAY  AT  THE  COURT 


35 


by  that  time  your  savage  temper  will  be  gone 
and  you  will  be  put  in  a nice  place  in  heaven  and 
enjoy  life  forever  afterwards.” 

This  finished  the  play,  which  was  very  inter- 
esting, and  I enjoyed  it  from  beginning  to  end. 
It  was  acted  very  cleverly  and  quite  realistic,  and 
I was  very  much  surprised  to  know  that  the 
eunuchs  could  act  so  well.  Her  Majesty  told  us 
that  the  scenery  was  all  painted  by  the  eunuchs 
and  that  she  had  taught  them  about  all  they 
knew.  Unlike  most  theatres  in  China,  it  had  a 
curtain  which  was  closed  between  the  acts,  also 
wing  slides  and  drop  scenes.  Her  Majesty  had 
never  seen  a foreign  theatre  and  I could  not 
understand  where  she  got  all  her  ideas  from. 
She  was  very  fond  of  reading  religious  books 
and  fairy  tales,  and  wrote  them  into  plajrs  and 
staged  them  herself,  and  was  extremely  proud 
of  her  achievement. 

Her  Majesty  sat  talking,  we  standing,  for 
some  little  time  and  she  asked  me  if  I understood 
the  play,  and  I told  her  that  I did  and  she  seemed 
quite  pleased.  Then  she  said  in  such  a charming 
way:  “Oh!  I am  so  interested  in  talking  with  you 
that  I have  forgotten  to  order  my  lunch.  Are 
you  hungry?  Could  you  get  Chinese  food  when 
you  were  abroad,  and  were  you  homesick?  I 
know  I would  be  if  I left  my  own  country  for 
so  long  a time;  but  the  reason  why  you  were 


36  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


abroad  so  long  was  not  your  fault.  It  was  my 
order  that  sent  Yu  Iveng  to  Paris  and  I am  not 
a bit  sorry,  for  you  see  how  much  you  can  help 
me  now,  and  I am  proud  of  you  and  will  show 
you  to  the  foreigners  that  they  may  see  our 
Manchu  ladies  can  speak  other  languages  than 
their  own.”  While  she  was  talking  I noticed 
that  the  eunuchs  were  laying  three  large  tables 
with  nice  white  table  cloths,  and  I could  see  a 
number  of  other  eunuchs  standing  in  the  court- 
yard with  boxes  of  food.  These  boxes  or  trays 
are  made  of  wood  painted  yellow  and  are  large 
enough  to  hold  four  small  and  two  large  bowls 
of  food.  After  the  tables  were  laid  ready,  the 
eunuchs  outside  formed  themselves  into  a double 
line  from  the  courtyard  to  a little  gate  running 
into  another  courtyard  and  passed  these  trays 
from  one  to  the  other  up  to  the  entrance  of  the 
room,  where  they  were  taken  by  four  nicely 
dressed  eunuchs  and  placed  on  the  tables. 

It  seems  that  it  was  a habit  of  Her  Majesty 
to  take  her  meals  wherever  she  happened  to  be, 
so  that  there  was  no  particular  place  that  she  used 
as  a dining  room.  I should  also  mention  that 
these  bowls  were  of  Imperial  yellow  with  silver 
covers.  Some  were  ornamented  with  green 
dragons  and  some  with  the  Chinese  character 
Shou  (Long  Life). 

There  were  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  differ- 


A PLAY  AT  THE  COURT 


37 


ent  kinds  of  food,  for  I counted  them.  They 
were  placed  in  long  rows,  one  row  of  large  bowls 
and  one  row  of  small  plates,  and  then  another 
row  of  small  bowls,  and  so  on.  As  the  setting 
of  the  tables  was  going  on,  two  Court  ladies  came 
into  the  bedroom,  each  carrying  a large  yellow 
box.  I was  very  much  surprised  to  see  Court 
ladies  doing  this  kind  of  work  and  I said  to 
myself,  if  I come  here  will  I have  to  do  this  sort 
of  thing?  Although  these  boxes  appeared  to  be 
quite  heavy,  they  brought  them  in  very  grace- 
fully. Two  small  tables  were  placed  in  front 
of  Her  Majesty,  then  they  opened  the  boxes  and 
placed  a number  of  very  cute  plates  containing 
all  sorts  of  sweets,  lotus  flower  seeds,  dried  and 
cooked  with  sugar,  watermelon  seeds,  walnuts 
cooked  in  different  ways,  and  fruits  of  the  season 
cut  and  sliced.  As  these  plates  were  being 
placed  on  the  tables  Her  Majesty  said  that  she 
liked  these  dainties  better  than  meat  and  gave 
us  some  and  told  us  to  make  ourselves  at  home. 
We  thanked  her  for  her  kindness  and  enjoyed 
them  very  much.  I noticed  that  she  ate  quite  a 
quantity  from  the  different  plates  and  wondered 
how  she  would  be  able  to  eat  her  lunch.  When 
she  had  finished,  two  of  the  Court  ladies  came 
and  took  the  plates  away  and  Her  Majesty  told 
us  that  she  always  gave  what  was  left  to  the 
Court  ladies  after  she  had  finished  eating. 


38  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


After  this  a eunuch  came  in  carrying  a cup  of 
tea.  This  tea  cup  was  made  of  pure  white  jade 
and  the  saucer  and  cover  was  of  solid  gold.  Then 
another  eunuch  came  in  carrying  a silver  tray 
on  which  were  two  jade  cups  similar  to  the  others, 
one  containing  honeysuckle  flowers  and  the  other 
rose  petals.  He  also  brought  a pair  of  gold 
chopsticks.  They  both  knelt  on  the  floor  in  front 
of  Her  Majesty  and  held  the  trays  up  so  that 
she  could  reach  them.  She  took  the  golden  cover 
off  of  the  cup  containing  tea  and  took  some  of 
the  honeysuckle  flowers  and  placed  them  in  the 
tea.  While  she  was  doing  this  and  sipping  the 
tea,  she  was  telling  how  fond  she  was  of  flowers 
and  what  a delicate  flavor  they  gave  to  the  tea. 
Then  she  said:  “I  will  let  you  taste  some  of  my 
tea  and  see  if  you  like  it,”  and  ordered  one  of 
the  eunuchs  to  bring  us  some  tea,  the  same  as  she 
was  drinking.  When  it  came,  she  put  some  of 
the  honeysuckle  flowers  in  the  cup  for  us  and 
watched  us  drink  it.  It  was  the  most  delicious 
tea  I had  ever  tasted  and  the  putting  of  flowers 
in  it  gave  it  an  extremely  delicate  flavour. 


CHAPTER  FOUR 


A LUNCHEON  WITH  THE  EMPRESS 

When  we  had  finished  drinking  tea,  she  told  us 
to  go  with  her  into  the  next  room,  where  the 
tables  had  been  prepared  for  lunch,  and  I won- 
dered if  she  had  any  room  for  lunch,  after  all 
that  she  had  just  eaten,  but  I soon  found  out. 
As  soon  as  she  was  inside  the  room,  she  ordered 
the  covers  to  be  removed  and  they  were  all  taken 
off  at  one  time.  Then  she  took  her  seat  at  the 
head  of  the  table  and  told  us  to  stand  at  the  foot. 
She  then  said:  “generally  the  Emperor  takes 
lunch  with  me  when  we  have  the  theatre,  but  he  is 
shy  to-day,  as  you  are  all  new  to  him.  I hope 
he  will  get  over  it  and  not  be  so  bashful.  You 
three  had  better  eat  with  me  to-day.”  Of  course, 
we  knew  that  this  was  an  especial  favor,  and 
thanked  her  by  kowtowing  before  we  commenced 
to  eat.  This  kowtowing,  or  bowing  our  heads  to 
the  ground,  was  very  tiring  at  first  and  made  us 
dizzy,  until  we  got  used  to  it. 

When  we  commenced  to  eat,  Her  Majesty 
ordered  the  eunuchs  to  place  plates  for  us  and 
give  us  silver  chopsticks,  spoons,  etc.,  and  said: 

39 


40  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


“I  am  sorry  you  have  to  eat  standing,  but  I can- 
not break  the  law  of  our  great  ancestors.  Even 
the  Young  Empress  cannot  sit  in  my  presence. 
I am  sure  the  foreigners  must  think  we  are  bar- 
barians to  treat  our  Court  ladies  in  this  way  and 
I don’t  wish  them  to  know  anything  about  our 
customs.  You  will  see  how  differently  I act  in 
their  presence,  so  that  they  cannot  see  my  true 
self.” 

I was  watching  her  while  she  was  talking  to 
my  mother  and  marvelled  to  see  how  she  could 
eat,  after  having  eaten  such  a quantity  of  candy, 
walnuts,  etc.,  while  in  her  bedroom. 

Beef  was  a thing  that  was  tabooed  within  the 
precincts  of  the  Palace,  as  it  was  considered  a 
great  sin  to  kill  and  eat  animals  that  were  used 
as  beasts  of  burden.  The  food  consisted  mostly 
of  pork,  mutton  and  game,  fowls  and  vegetables. 
This  day  we  had  pork  cooked  in  ten  different 
ways,  such  as  meat  balls,  sliced  cold  in  two  dif- 
ferent ways,  red  and  white,  the  red  being  cooked 
with  a special  kind  of  sauce  made  of  beans  which 
gives  it  the  red  color  and  has  a delicious  taste. 
Chopped  pork  with  chopped  bamboo  shoots,  pork 
cut  in  cubes  and  cooked  with  cherries  and  pork 
cooked  with  onions  and  sliced  thin.  This  last 
dish  was  Her  Majesty’s  favorite  and  I must  say 
it  was  good.  Then  there  was  a sort  of  pancake 
made  of  eggs,  pork  and  mushrooms  chopped  fine 


From  left  to  right,  second  eunuch  Tsuea;  Young  Empress,  wife  of  Kwang  Hsu;  Guin-Sho;  Der  Ling, 
the  writer,  first  court  lady  to  Her  Imperial  Majesty;  Her  Imperial  Majesty,  the  Empress  Dowager; 
Roong  Ling,  second  court  lady  ; Tsze  Gurga,  fourth  daughter  of  Prince  Ching,  court  lady  ; 
\ uenda  Nina,  widow  of  one  of  Her  Majesty’s  nephews;  Lee  Lee.  granddaughter  of  Lady  Yu 
Keng;  Lady  Yu  Keng,  wife  of  Lord  Yli  Keng,  Minister  to  Paris  1899-1903 


A LUNCHEON  WITH  THE  EMPRESS  41 


and  fried,  also  pork  cooked  with  cabbage  and 
another  dish  cooked  with  turnips.  The  fowl  and 
mutton  was  cooked  in  several  different  ways.  In 
the  center  of  the  table  was  a very  large  bowl 
about  two  feet  in  diameter  of  the  same  yellow 
porcelain,  in  which  there  was  a chicken,  a duck 
and  some  shark  fins  in  a clear  soup.  Shark  fins 
are  considered  a great  delicacy  in  China.  Be- 
sides this  there  was  roast  chicken,  boneless  chicken 
and  roast  duck.  Ducks  and  chickens  are  stuffed 
with  little  pine  needles  to  give  them  a fine  flavor 
and  roasted  in  open  air  ovens. 

There  was  another  dish  that  Her  Majesty  was 
very  fond  of  and  that  was  the  skin  of  roast  pork 
cut  into  very  small  slices  and  fried  until  it  curls 
up  like  a rasher  of  bacon. 

As  a rule  the  Manchu  people  seldom  eat  rice, 
but  are  very  fond  of  bread  and  this  day  we  had 
bread,  made  in  a number  of  different  ways,  such 
as  baked,  steamed,  fried,  some  with  sugar  and 
some  with  salt  and  pepper,  cut  in  fancy  shapes 
or  made  in  fancy  moulds  such  as  dragons,  but- 
terflies, flowers,  etc.,  and  one  kind  was  made  with 
mincemeat  inside.  Then  we  had  a number  of 
different  kinds  of  pickles,  of  which  Her  Majesty 
was  very  fond.  Then  there  was  beans  and  green 
peas,  and  peanuts  made  into  cakes  and  served 
with  sugarcane  syrup. 

I did  not  eat  very  much,  as  I was  too  busy 


42  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


watching  Her  Majesty  and  listening  to  what  she 
said,  although  she  told  us  to  eat  all  we  could. 
In  addition  to  all  I have  mentioned,  we  had  many 
different  kinds  of  porridge,  some  made  of  sweet 
corn  and  some  with  tiny  yellow  rice  (like  bird 
seed),  and  Her  Majesty  said  that  we  must  all 
eat  porridge  after  our  meat. 

After  we  had  finally  finished  eating,  Her 
Majesty  rose  from  the  table  and  said:  “Come 
into  my  bedroom  and  you  will  see  the  Young 
Empress  and  the  Court  ladies  eat;  they  always 
eat  after  I am  finished.”  W e went  with  her  and 
I stood  near  the  door  between  the  two  rooms 
and  saw  the  Young  Empress  and  Court  ladies 
come  in  and  stand  around  the  table  eating  very 
quietly.  They  were  never  allowed  to  sit  down 
and  eat  their  food. 

All  this  time  the  theatre  had  been  going  on 
inlaying  some  fairy  tales,  but  they  were  not  near 
as  interesting  as  the  first  play  that  we  had  seen. 
Her  Majesty  sat  on  her  long  couch  in  the  bed- 
room and  the  eunuch  brought  her  some  tea  and 
she  ordered  some  brought  for  us.  My  reader 
can  imagine  how  delighted  I was  to  be  treated 
in  this  way.  In  China  the  people  think  their 
sovereign  is  the  supreme  being  and  that  her  word 
is  law.  One  must  never  raise  their  eyes  when 
talking  to  her.  This  is  a sign  of  great  respect. 
I thought  these  extreme  favors  must  be  most 


A LUNCHEON  WITH  THE  EMPRESS  43 


unusual.  I had  been  told  that  Her  Ma j esty  had 
a very  fierce  temper,  but  seeing  her  so  kind  and 
gracious  to  us  and  talking  to  us  in  such  a motherly 
way,  I thought  my  informant  must  be  wrong 
and  that  she  was  the  sweetest  woman  in  the 
world. 

When  Her  Majesty  had  rested  a while,  she 
told  us  that  it  was  time  we  were  returning  to  the 
city,  as  it  was  getting  late.  She  gave  us  eight 
big  yellow  boxes  of  fruit  and  cakes  to  take  home 
with  us.  She  said  to  my  mother:  “Tell  Yu  Keng 
(my  father)  to  get  better  soon  and  tell  him  to 
take  the  medicine  I am  sending  by  you  and  to 
rest  well.  Also  give  him  these  eight  boxes  of 
fruit  and  cakes.”  I thought  my  father,  who  had 
been  quite  ill  since  we  returned  from  Paris,  would 
not  be  much  benefited  if  he  ate  all  those  cakes. 
However,  I knew  he  would  appreciate  her  kind 
thoughtfulness  even  if  it  were  detrimental  to  his 
health. 

As  perhaps  most  of  my  readers  know,  it  is  the 
custom  to  kowtow  when  Her  Majesty  gives  pres- 
ents and  we  kowtowed  to  her  when  she  gave  us 
the  fruit  and  cakes  and  thanked  her  for  her  kind- 
ness. 

Just  as  we  were  leaving,  Her  Majesty  said  to 
my  mother  that  she  liked  us  very  much  and 
wanted  us  to  come  and  be  her  Court  ladies  and 
stay  at  the  Palace.  We  thought  this  was 


44  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


another  great  favor  and  again  thanked  her,  and 
she  asked  us  when  we  could  come  and  told  us  to 
bring  our  clothes  and  things  only,  as  she  would 
fix  everything  for  us  and  showed  us  the  house 
we  would  live  in  when  we  came  and  told  us  to 
come  back  inside  of  two  days.  This  house  con- 
tained three  very  large  rooms  and  was  situated 
on  the  right  side  of  her  own  or  private  Palace. 
This  Palace  Ler  Shou  Tong  (Ever  Happy 
Palace)  is  situated  on  the  shores  of  the  lake  and 
was  Her  Majesty’s  favorite  place  and  where  she 
spent  most  of  her  time,  reading  and  resting  and 
when  the  spirit  moved  her  she  would  go  for  a 
sail  on  the  lake.  In  this  Palace  she  had  quite  a 
number  of  bedrooms  and  made  use  of  them  all. 

When  she  had  finished  showing  us  this  house 
we  took  leave  of  Her  Majesty,  the  Young 
Empress  and  the  Court  ladies,  and  after  a long 
and  tiresome  ride,  reached  home  exhausted  but 
happy,  after  the  most  eventful  day  of  our  lives. 
When  we  got  into  the  house,  we  were  surprised 
to  find  several  eunuchs  waiting  our  return. 
They  had  brought  us  each  four  rolls  of  Imperial 
brocade  from  Her  Majesty.  Once  more  we  had 
to  bend  to  custom  in  thanking  her  for  these  gifts. 
This  time,  the  gift  having  been  sent  to  the  house, 
we  placed  the  silk  on  a table  in  the  center  of  the 
room  and  kowtowed  to  thank  Her  Majesty  and 
told  the  eunuchs  to  tell  Her  Majesty  how  grate- 


A LUNCHEON  WITH  THE  EMPRESS  45 


fill  we  were  to  her  for  all  her  kindness  and  for 
the  beautiful  gifts. 

There  is  another  thing  that  had  to  be  done 
according  to  the  custom,  and  that  was  to  give  the 
eunuchs  a present  or  tip,  and  we  had  to  give 
each  of  the  eunuchs  ten  taels  for  their  trouble. 
We  afterwards  found  out  that  when  eunuchs 
went  anywhere  to  take  presents  for  Her  Majesty, 
they  were  required  to  report  to  her  when  they  re- 
turned how  the  recipient  had  thanked  her  and 
what  had  been  given  them,  which  she  allowed 
them  to  keep.  She  also  asked  them  numerous 
questions  about  our  house,  whether  we  were 
pleased  with  her,  etc.  These  people  are  ex- 
tremely fond  of  talking  and  after  we  had  re- 
turned to  the  Palace  again,  they  told  us  what 
Her  Majesty  had  said  about  us  the  first  day  we 
were  there. 

My  mother  felt  very  much  worried  to  go  to 
the  Palace  and  leave  my  father  all  alone  owing 
to  his  being  in  poor  health,  but  we  could  not  dis- 
obey Her  Majesty’s  order,  so  we  returned  to  the 
Palace  three  days  later. 

Our  first  day  there  was  a busy  one  for  us. 
When  we  first  arrived  we  went  and  thanked  Her 
Majesty  for  the  present  that  she  had  sent  us. 
She  told  us  that  she  was  very  busy  to-day,  as 
she  was  going  to  receive  a Russian  lady,  Madame 
Planc^on,  wife  of  the  Russian  Minister  to  China, 


46  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


who  was  bringing  a miniature  portrait  of  the 
Czar  and  Czarina  and  family  as  a present  from  the 
Czar  to  her,  the  Empress  Dowager.  She  asked 
me  if  I could  speak  Russian.  I told  her  that  I 
could  not,  but  that  most  Russians  spoke  French, 
which  seemed  to  satisfy  her.  She,  however,  said : 
“Why  don’t  you  tell  me  you  speak  Russian,  I 
won’t  know  or  be  able  to  find  out,”  and  at  the 
same  time  was  looking  at  one  of  the  Court  ladies. 
I concluded  that  someone  must  be  fooling  her, 
for  she  seemed  to  appreciate  the  fact  that  I had 
told  her  the  truth.  This  afterwards  proved  to 
be  true  and  one  of  the  Court  ladies  was  dismissed 
for  pretending  she  could  talk  foreign  languages 
when  she  could  not  speak  a word. 

Besides  this  audience  there  was  the  theatre  and 
the  engagement  ceremony  of  Her  Majesty’s 
nephew,  Ter  Ju.  The  engagement  ceremony, 
according  to  the  Manchu  custom,  is  performed 
by  two  of  the  Princesses  of  the  Royal  family 
going  to  the  house  of  the  prospective  bride,  who 
sits  on  her  bed  crosslegged,  her  eyes  closed  and 
awaits  their  coming.  When  they  arrive  at  the 
house,  they  go  to  her  bedroom  and  place  a symbol 
called  Ru  Yee,  made  of  pure  jade  about  one  and 
a half  feet  long,  in  her  lap  and  suspend  two  small 
bags  made  of  silk  and  beautifully  embroidered, 
each  containing  a gold  coin,  from  the  buttons 
of  her  gown,  and  place  two  gold  rings  on  her 


A LUNCHEON  WITH  THE  EMPRESS  47 


fingers,  on  which  is  carved  the  characters  Ta  Hsi 
(Great  Happiness).  The  meaning  of  the  sym- 
bol or  sceptre  Ru  Yee  is  “May  all  joy  be  yours.” 
During  this  entire  ceremony  absolute  silence 
is  maintained  and  immediately  they  have  finished, 
they  return  to  the  Palace  and  inform  Her 
Majesty  that  the  ceremony  has  been  completed. 


CHAPTER  FIVE 


AN  AUDIENCE  WITH  THE  EMPRESS 

No  one  informed  us  the  day  before  that  there 
was  to  be  an  audience  to  receive  the  Russian 
Minister’s  wife  on  that  very  day.  We  told  Her 
Majesty  that  we  must  go  and  change  our  clothes 
in  order  to  receive  this  lady.  The  dresses  we 
wore  that  day  were  very  simply  made  and  short. 
The  reason  we  wore  this  kind  of  costume  was 
that  there  was  no  carpet  and  the  bare  brick  floor 
had  ruined  our  beautiful  red  velvet  gowns,  also 
the  clumsy  eunuchs  had  kept  stepping  on  our 
trains  all  the  time.  We  had  made  up  our  minds 
that  short  dresses  for  general  wear  every  day 
would  be  more  practical.  Her  Majesty  said: 
“Why  must  you  change  your  clothes?  I see  you 
look  much  better  without  that  tail  dragging 
behind  you  on  the  floor.  I laughed  at  the  idea 
of  having  a tail  on  one’s  dresses.  I noticed  that 
the  first  day  when  you  came  to  the  Court.” 
Before  we  had  time  to  explain  to  her,  she  said: 
“I  see,  dresses  with  tails  behind  must  be  more 
dignified  than  short  ones,  am  I right?”  We  told 
her  it  was  so.  Then  she  said:  “Go  and  put  on 

48 


AN  AUDIENCE  WITH  THE  EMPRESS  49 


your  most  beautiful  gowns  at  once.”  We  imme- 
diately went  and  changed.  My  sister  and  my- 
self wore  our  pink  crepe  de  chine  gowns,  trimmed 
with  Brussels  lace  and  transparent  yokes  of  the 
same  color  chiffon.  My  mother  wore  her  gray 
crepe  de  chine  embroidered  with  black  roses  and 
a little  touch  of  pale  blue  satin  on  her  collar  and 
belt.  We  dressed  in  a great  hurry,  as  Her 
Majesty  had  sent  eunuchs  to  see  if  we  were  ready. 
When  she  saw  us  she  exclaimed : “Here  are  three 
fairies  with  long  tails.”  Then  she  asked  us:  “Is 
it  very  tiring  to  hold  half  of  your  dress  in  your 
hand  when  you  are  walking?  The  costume  is 
pretty,  but  I do  dislike  the  tail,  there  is  no  sense 
having  a thing  like  that.  I wonder  what  these 
foreigners  will  think  of  me  having  you  dressed 
in  their  costume.  I am  sure  they  won’t  like  the 
idea.  My  reason  is  this : I want  them  to  see  you 
in  foreign  clothes  in  order  to  let  them  understand 
I know  something  about  the  way  they  dress.  I 
must  say  that  no  foreign  ladies  have  yet  been 
presented  to  me  dressed  in  such  lovely  gowns 
as  you  three  have.  I don’t  believe  foreigners  are 
as  wealthy  as  the  Chinese.  I also  notice  they 
wear  very  little  jewelry.  I was  told  that  I have 
more  jewelry  than  any  sovereign  in  the  world 
and  yet  I am  getting  more  all  the  time.” 

We  were  very  busy  getting  ready  to  receive 
Mdme.  Plantjon,  who  arrived  about  eleven  o’clock 


50  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


and  was  received  in  the  waiting  room  of  the  first 
courtyard  by  my  sister  and  from  there  conducted 
to  the  audience  hall,  Ren  Shou  Dien,  where  she 
was  received  by  Her  Majesty,  who  was  sitting 
on  her  big  throne  on  the  raised  dais.  The  Em- 
peror was  present,  sitting  on  Her  Majesty’s  left 
hand  and  I stood  on  her  right  to  interpret  for 
her.  Her  Majesty  was  dressed  in  a yellow 
transparent  satin  brocade  gown,  embroidered  with 
hollyhocks  and  the  Chinese  character  “Shou” 
(Long  Life)  and  trimmed  with  gold  braid.  She 
wore  her  big  pearl,  which  is  about  the  size  and 
shape  of  an  egg,  suspended  from  the  button  of 
her  dress,  also  numerous  bracelets  and  rings  and 
gold  finger  nail  protectors.  Her  hair  was 
dressed  in  the  same  style  as  usual. 

When  Mdme.  Plant^on  entered  the  hall,  my 
sister  brought  her  to  the  steps  of  the  dais  and 
she  courtesied  to  Her  Majesty.  I then  went 
forward  and  brought  her  up  onto  the  dais  and 
Her  Majesty  shook  hands  with  her  and  she  pre- 
sented the  photograph  which  she  had  brought 
to  Her  Majesty.  Her  Majesty  made  a very 
pretty  speech  of  acceptance,  expressing  her 
appreciation  of  the  gift  of  their  Majesties,  the 
Czar  and  Czarina.  I interpreted  this  speech  in 
French  to  Mdme.  Plai^on,  as  she  could  not  speak 
English.  After  this,  Her  Majesty  told  me  to 
take  Mdme.  Plant^on  to  the  Emperor,  which  I 


AN  AUDIENCE  WITH  THE  EMPRESS  51 


did.  He  stood  up  when  she  came  near  and  shook 
hands  with  her  and  asked  after  their  Majesties’ 
health.  This  over,  Her  Majesty  stepped  down 
from  her  throne  and  took  Mdme.  Platon  to  her 
own  Palace,  the  one  with  so  many  bedrooms,  and 
when  they  arrived,  Her  Majesty  asked  her  to 
sit  down,  and  they  talked  together  for  about  ten 
minutes,  I interpreting  for  them,  after  which  I 
took  her  to  see  the  Young  Empress. 

The  Manchu  law  is  very  strict  as  regards  the 
mother-in-law  and  the  daughter-in-law,  and  the 
Young  Empress  had  been  sitting  behind  the 
screen  at  the  back  of  the  throne  during  the  audi- 
ence, and  it  was  there  that  I found  her.  From 
there  we  went  to  the  banquet  hall,  where  luncheon 
was  served  in  Manchu  style. 

Here  I must  explain  the  difference  between 
the  Chinese  way  of  eating  and  the  Manchu.  The 
Chinese  place  the  bowls  of  food,  one  at  a time, 
in  the  center  of  the  table  and  everyone  eats  out 
of  these  bowls,  sticking  their  chopsticks  in  and 
helping  themselves  to  what  they  want.  The 
Manchus  eat  quite  differently  and  are  served  with 
individual  bowls  and  dishes,  the  same  as  in  any 
other  country.  Her  Majesty  was  very  proud  of 
this  and  said  that  it  saved  time,  not  to  mention 
being  cleaner.  The  food  in  the  Palace  was 
always  very  good  and  clean,  especially  when  we 
had  foreign  guests,  and  of  course  we  had  a variety 


52  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


of  dishes  for  such  occasions,  such  as  sharkfins, 
birds’  nest  pudding,  not  to  mention  a great  quan- 
tity of  other  things. 

Her  Majesty  had  given  me  the  order  that 
morning  to  have  the  tables  nicely  decorated  and 
they  did  look  very  nice  when  we  sat  down. 
Besides  the  usual  tableware,  we  had  gold  dragon 
menu  holders,  little  peach-shaped  silver  saucers 
filled  with  almonds  and  dried  watermelon  seeds, 
and  knives  and  forks  in  addition  to  chopsticks. 

Her  Majesty  and  the  Emperor  never  ate  with 
guests,  so  Mdme.  Plan^n  was  entertained  by 
the  Imperial  Princess  and  the  Court  ladies. 
When  luncheon  was  half  over  a eunuch  came  and 
told  me  that  Her  Majesty  wanted  to  see  me  at 
once.  The  thought  flashed  through  my  head  that 
something  had  gone  wrong,  or  that  some  of  the 
eunuchs  had  been  making  false  reports,  a bad 
habit  of  the  Court;  and  I was  much  surprised  to 
find  her  all  smiles.  She  told  me  what  a nice, 
polite  lady  Mdme.  Plan<;on  was,  that  she  had 
seen  many  ladies  who  had  come  to  the  Court,  but 
none  with  manners  like  this  one,  that  she  was 
sorry  to  say  that  some  of  the  ladies  who  came 
did  not  behave  very  well.  She  said:  “They  seem 
to  think  we  are  only  Chinese  and  do  not  know 
anything,  and  look  down  upon  us.  I notice 
these  things  very  quickly  and  am  surprised  to 
see  people  who  claim  to  be  well  educated  and 


View  taken  from  Pei  Yeun  Dien, 
Spreading  Cloud  Pavilion,  Summer  Palace 


AN  AUDIENCE  WITH  THE  EMPRESS  53 


civilized  acting  the  way  they  do.  I think  we 
whom  they  call  barbarians  are  much  more  civil- 
ized and  have  better  manners.”  She  was  always 
very  polite  to  the  foreign  ladies,  no  matter  how 
badly  they  behaved,  but  after  they  had  gone, 
she  would  tell  us  who  was  nice  and  who  was  not. 
After  she  had  finished  saying  this,  she  gave  me 
a beautiful  piece  of  green  jade  to  give  to  Madame 
Plam^on.  When  I gave  it  to  her,  she  said  she 
wished  to  thank  Her  Majesty,  and  I took  her 
to  the  Palace  again. 

When  we  had  finished  luncheon,  she  told  me 
how  pleased  she  was  with  her  reception  and  the 
kindness  that  Her  Majesty  had  shown  her,  and 
took  her  departure,  we  accompanying  her  to  the 
courtyard  of  the  Audience  Hall,  where  her  chair 
was  waiting. 

Her  Majesty  had  made  a rule  or  custom  that 
after  all  guests  had  departed,  we  must  go  to  her 
and  report  everything.  I suppose  she  was  like 
all  women,  a bit  of  a gossip  as  well  as  the  rest; 
it  appeared  so  at  any  rate.  She  wanted  to  know 
what  Mdme.  Plan^on  said,  whether  she  liked  the 
jade  and  whether  she  enjoyed  her  luncheon,  etc. 

Her  Majesty  was  very  well  pleased  that  I had 
interpreted  so  well  for  her  and  said:  “I  have 
never  had  anyone  to  interpret  for  me  this  way 
before.  Although  I don’t  understand  the  lan- 
guage, I can  see  that  you  speak  it  fluently.  How 


54  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


did  you  learn?  I will  never  let  you  go  away 
from  me  any  more.  Sometimes  the  foreign 
ladies  bring  their  own  interpreters,  but  I can’t 
understand  their  Chinese  and  have  to  guess  at 
what  they  are  saying,  especially  some  of  the  mis- 
sionaries Mrs.  Conger  brings  with  her.  I am 
very  happy  to  have  you  and  want  you  to  stay 
with  me  as  long  as  I live  and  I will  arrange  a 
marriage  for  you,  but  wron’t  tell  you  just  now.” 

I felt  very  happy  at  what  Her  Majesty  had 
said  and  thought  I had  made  my  debut  under 
very  favorable  auspices,  and  was  very  glad  that 
Her  Majesty  liked  me;  but  this  marriage  ques- 
tion worried  me,  for  nothing  was  farther  from 
my  mind  than  this.  I afterwards  told  my 
mother  about  it  and  she  told  me  not  to  worry, 
as  I could  always  refuse  when  the  time  came. 

When  we  had  told  Her  Majesty  all  that 
Mdme.  Plan^n  had  said,  she  told  us  we  could 
go  to  our  rooms,  that  as  we  had  risen  early  that 
morning  and  had  worked  very  hard,  we  must  be 
tired  and  needed  rest,  that  she  would  not  need 
us  any  more  that  day.  We  courtesied  to  her 
according  to  the  custom  when  saying  good  night, 
and  retired. 


CHAPTER  SIX 


IN  ATTENDANCE  ON  HER  MAJESTY 

The  building  where  we  had  our  rooms,  as  I 
have  said  before,  contained  four  large  rooms  and 
a hall,  and  we  three,  my  mother,  sister  and  my- 
self, each  took  a room  and  gave  the  fourth  to 
our  maids.  Her  Majesty  had  ordered  a eunuch 
to  accompany  us  and  this  eunuch  told  us  that 
ITer  Majesty  had  ordered  four  young  eunuchs  to 
attend  on  us  and  that  if  they  did  not  behave,  we 
should  tell  him.  He  also  said  his  name  was  Li, 
but  as  there  were  so  many  by  this  name,  includ- 
ing the  head  eunuch,  it  was  very  hard  to  tell 
them  apart. 

When  we  arrived,  which  took  some  time,  he 
pointed  to  a building  on  our  right  and  said  that 
it  was  Her  Majesty’s  own  Palace  and  the  one 
which  we  had  just  left.  I could  not  understand 
why  it  had  taken  us  so  long  to  come,  when  the 
Palace  was  so  near,  and  asked  him  about  it.  He 
told  us  that  our  little  buildings  were  at  the  left 
side  of  the  Emperor’s  Palace  and  that  Her 
Majesty  had  had  the  entrance  leading  from  our 
place  to  her  Palace  closed  up  for  certain  reasons 

55 


56  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


which  he  would  not  tell,  but  said:  “You  see  this 
place  ought  to  face  East  instead  of  towards  the 
lake.”  The  view  on  the  lake  was  beautiful  and 
I told  him  I liked  it  much  better  the  way  it  was. 
He  smiled  and  said:  “You  will  have  to  learn  a 
lot  before  you  find  out  this  wicked  place.”  I 
was  surprised  at  what  the  eunuch  said,  but  did 
not  like  to  ask  him  any  questions.  He  also  told 
us  that  the  Emperor’s  Palace  was  just  behind 
our  place  and  was  a large  building  similar  to 
Her  Majesty’s  Palace.  We  looked  and  could 
see  the  trees  of  his  courtyard  above  the  roof. 
Then  he  pointed  to  another  building  behind  the 
Emperor’s,  which  was  larger  but  lower  than  the 
Emperor’s  Palace,  and  also  had  a large  court- 
yard, and  said  it  was  the  Young  Empress’s  Pal- 
ace. It  had  two  buildings  flanking  it  on  each 
side  and  the  eunuch  told  us  that  the  one  on  the 
left  was  the  Secondary  Wife’s  bedroom.  That 
there  had  been  an  entrance  between  the  two  Pal- 
aces, but  that  Lao  Fo  Yeh  (The  great  old 
Buddha),  as  the  eunuchs  called  Her  Majesty, 
had  blocked  it  up  so  that  the  Emperor  and 
Empress  could  not  communicate  with  each  other, 
except  through  Her  Majesty’s  own  Palace.  I 
suppose  this  was  the  way  she  kept  watch  over 
them  and  knew  at  all  times  what  they  were  doing. 
This  was  all  news  to  me  and  I did  not  know  what 
to  think  of  it.  I was  afraid  that  this  eunuch  Li 


IN  ATTENDANCE  ON  HER  MAJESTY  57 


would  tell  me  more  of  these  curious  things,  so 
I told  him  I was  tired  and  would  go  to  my  room 
and  rest,  and  he  went  away. 

When  I finally  got  inside  my  room  and  had 
a chance  to  look  around,  I saw  that  it  was  very 
prettily  furnished  with  ebonywood  furniture, 
which  was  covered  with  red  satin  cushions  and 
the  windows  were  hung  with  red  silk  curtains. 
All  the  bedrooms  were  just  alike.  The  kong 
(bed)  was  made  of  brick  covered  with  the  same 
kind  of  wood  and  ran  along  the  wall  under  the 
front  window.  It  had  high  teaster  posts  with 
slats  running  across  on  which  red  curtains  were 
hung.  These  kongs  are  very  curiously  built. 
They  are  made  of  brick  and  have  a hole  in  the 
front  center  in  which  fire  is  placed  to  heat  the 
brick  in  winter  time.  During  the  day  a sort  of 
table  is  placed  on  top  of  the  kong  and  removed 
again  at  night. 

Shortly  after  we  had  gone  to  our  rooms,  some 
eunuchs  came  and  brought  our  dinner,  which  they 
placed  on  a table  in  the  center  of  the  hall.  They 
told  us  the  food  had  been  sent  by  Her  Majesty 
and  that  she  had  ordered  them  to  tell  us  to  make 
ourselves  comfortable.  We  were  so  tired  that 
we  could  not  eat  very  much  and  were  about  to 
retire  for  the  night  when  this  eunuch  Li  came 
again  and  told  us  that  we  must  be  up  at  five 
o’clock,  not  later,  so  I told  my  eunuch  to  knock 


58  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


on  my  window  at  five.  Immediately  after  this 
we  went  to  bed,  but  did  not  sleep  bnmediately, 
as  we  wanted  to  talk  over  the  events  of  the  day, 
which  had  been  many  and  strange.  After  we 
did  finally  get  to  bed,  it  seemed  as  if  we  had  just 
fallen  asleep  when  I heard  someone  knocking  on 
my  window.  I woke  up  with  a start  and  asked 
what  the  matter  was  and  a eunuch  told  me  it 
was  five  o’clock  and  time  to  get  up. 

I immediately  got  up  and  opened  my  window 
and  looked  out.  The  day  was  just  dawning  and 
the  sky  was  a beautiful  deep  red  which  was 
reflected  in  the  lake,  which  was  perfectly  calm. 
The  sceneiy  was  lovely  and  in  the  distance  I 
could  see  Her  Majesty’s  peony  mountain,  which 
was  literally  covered  with  these  beautiful  flowers. 
I dressed  at  once  and  went  to  Her  Majesty’s 
Palace  and  there  met  the  Young  Empress  sitting 
on  the  veranda.  I courtesied  to  her  as  a good 
morning  salute.  The  Emperor’s  Secondary  wife 
was  there  also,  but  we  had  been  ordered  not  to 
courtesy  to  her,  as  she  was  considered  not  to  have 
any  standing  there.  There  was  also  a number  of 
young  Court  ladies,  many  of  whom  I had  never 
seen  before.  The  Young  Empress  introduced 
me  to  them,  saying  that  they  were  also  Court 
ladies.  They  were  daughters  of  high  Manchu 
officials  and  some  were  very  pretty  and  bright. 
The  Young  Empress  told  me  that  these  ten 


IN  ATTENDANCE  ON  HER  MAJESTY  59 


(there  were  just  ten  there)  were  never  allowed 
to  go  near  Her  Majesty,  as  they  were  just  learn- 
ing the  court  etiquette.  They  were  all  dressed 
very  nicely  in  pretty  Manchu  gowns,  the  same 
design  as  that  worn  by  the  Young  Empress. 

After  I had  been  introduced  to  these  young 
ladies  and  talked  with  them  a while,  I went  inside 
with  the  Young  Empress  and  there  met  Sze 
Gurgur,  fourth  daughter  of  Prince  Ching  and  a 
young  widow  twenty-four  years  of  age;  Yuen 
Da  Yai  Nai,  widow  of  Her  Majesty’s  nephew. 
Both  were  busy  getting  things  ready  for  Her 
Majesty.  The  Young  Empress  told  us  that 
we  must  go  at  once  to  Her  Majesty’s  bedroom 
and  assist  Her  Majesty  to  dress,  so  we  went 
at  once  and  courtesied  to  her  and  said:  “Lao 
Tsu  Tsung  Chi  Hsiang”  (old  ancestor,  all  joy 
be  with  you).  Her  Majesty  was  still  in  bed 
and  smiled  to  us  and  asked  us  if  we  had  slept 
well.  We  told  her  the  rooms  were  very  com- 
fortable, etc.  I thought  to  myself,  we  had  slept 
very  well  for  the  little  time  we  had,  but  I had 
not  had  half  enough.  The  day  before  had  been 
very  hard  for  us  and  we  were  quite  unused  to  it 
and  it  had  made  us  very  lame  and  sore  running 
around  so  much. 

She  asked  us  if  we  had  had  any  breakfast  and 
we  told  her  not  yet.  She  scolded  Li  for  not 
having  given  the  order  for  our  breakfast  to  be 


60  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


brought  to  our  rooms  and  said:  “You  must  not 
feel  like  strangers,  order  anything  you  may 
want.”  Then  she  arose  and  started  to  dress. 
She  put  on  her  white  silk  socks  first,  having  slept 
in  her  pantaloons  as  is  the  custom,  and  tied  them 
at  the  ankle  with  pretty  ribbon.  I must  tell 
you  here  that  although  she  always  slept  in  her 
clothes,  she  changed  them  for  clean  ones  every 
day.  Then  she  put  on  a pale  pink  shirt  of  soft 
material  and  over  that  a short  silk  gown,  that  was 
embroidered  with  bamboo  leaves,  as  she  always 
wore  low  heeled  shoes  in  the  morning  and  con- 
sequently could  not  wear  her  long  gowns.  After 
she  had  dressed  she  walked  over  to  a window  in 
front  of  which  were  two  long  tables  covered  with 
toilet  articles  of  every  kind  and  description. 

As  she  was  washing  her  face  and  dressing  her 
hair,  she  said  to  my  mother  that  she  could  not 
hear  to  have  the  servant  girls,  eunuchs,  or  old 
women,  touch  her  bed,  that  they  were  dirty,  so 
the  Court  ladies  must  make  it.  When  she  said 
this  she  turned  to  my  sister  and  myself,  we  were 
standing  a little  to  one  side,  and  said:  “You  two 
must  not  think  for  a moment  that  the  Court  la- 
dies do  servant’s  work,  but  you  know  I am  an  old 
woman  and  could  easily  be  your  grandmother 
and  it  will  do  you  no  harm  to  work  a little  for 
me.  When  it  comes  your  turn,  you  can  super- 
intend the  others  and  don’t  have  to  do  the  work 


IN  ATTENDANCE  ON  HER  MAJESTY  61 


with  your  own  hands.”  Then  Her  Majesty  said 
to  me:  “Der  Ling  you  are  a great  help  to  me  in 
every  way  and  I make  you  my  first  lady-in-wait- 
ing. You  must  not  work  too  much  for  you  will 
have  to  make  all  the  arrangements  for  the  audi- 
ences for  foreigners  and  you  will  have  to  inter- 
pret for  me.  I also  want  you  to  look  after  my 
jewels  and  don’t  want  you  to  do  rough  work 
at  all.  Roon  Ling  (my  sister)  can  choose  what 
she  likes  to  do.  I have  two  more  besides  you, 
Sze  Gurgur  and  Yuen  Da  Nai  Nai,  making  four 
altogether  and  you  must  all  work  together.  It 
is  not  necessary  to  be  too  polite  to  them  and  if 
they  are  not  nice  to  you,  you  let  me  know.” 
Although  I was  very  happy  at  receiving  this  ap- 
pointment, I knew  that  according  to  custom  I 
must  refuse  it,  so  I thanked  Her  Majesty  very 
kindly  for  the  honor  she  had  given  me  and  said 
that  I did  not  know  enough  to  hold  such  an 
important  position  and  would  prefer  to  be  just 
an  ordinary  Court  lady,  and  that  I would  learn 
as  quickly  as  possible  to  be  useful  to  her.  She 
hardly  let  me  finish  what  I was  saying,  when  she 
laughed  and  said:  “Stop!  don’t  say  anything  like 
that;  you  are  too  modest,  which  shows  you  are 
very  clever  and  not  a bit  conceited.  I am  sur- 
prised to  see  what  a perfect  little  Manchu  lady 
you  are,  knowing  even  such  small  etiquette  as 
this,  although  you  have  spent  many  years  outside 


62  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


of  China.”  She  was  very  fond  of  making  fun 
and  liked  very  much  to  tease,  and  said  that  I 
could  try  and  if  she  saw  that  I could  not  do  the 
work,  she  would  scold  me  and  put  someone  else 
in  my  place.  After  all  this  that  she  had  said,  I 
accepted  the  appointment  and  went  over  to  her 
bed  to  see  how  it  was  made,  and  I found  that  it 
was  very  easy  work  to  do.  As  this  would  be  one 
of  my  duties,  I watched  while  the  bed  was  being 
fixed.  First  of  all,  after  Her  Majesty  had 
risen,  the  bedclothes  were  taken  out  into  the 
courtyard  by  the  eunuchs  and  aired,  then  the  bed, 
which  was  made  of  beautifully  carved  wood,  was 
brushed  off  with  a sort  of  whiskbroom,  and 
a piece  of  felt  placed  over  it.  Then  three 
thick  mattresses  made  of  yellow  brocade  were 
placed  over  the  felt.  After  this  came  the  sheets 
made  of  different  colored  soft  silk,  and  over  the 
whole  thing  was  placed  a covering  of  plain  yel- 
low satin  embroidered  with  gold  dragons  and 
blue  clouds.  She  had  a great  many  pillows,  all 
beautifully  embroidered,  which  were  placed  on 
the  bed  during  the  daytime ; but  had  a particular 
one  stuffed  with  tea  leaves  on  which  she  slept. 
It  is  said  that  stuffing  the  pillow  on  which  you 
sleep  with  tea  leaves  is  good  for  the  eyes.  In 
addition  to  all  these,  she  had  another  very  curi- 
ously shaped  pillow  about  twelve  inches  long  in 
the  middle  of  which  was  a hole  about  three  inches 


IN  ATTENDANCE  ON  HER  MAJESTY  6J 


square.  It  was  stuffed  with  dried  flowers,  and 
the  idea  of  the  hole  was  that  when  she  laid  on  it 
she  could  place  her  ear  in  this  hole  and  in  this 
way  hear  any  and  every  sound.  I suppose  in  that 
way  no  one  could  come  on  her  unawares. 

Besides  this  last  yellow  embroidered  cover, 
there  were  six  covers  of  different  colors,  pale 
mauve,  blue,  pink,  green  and  violet,  and  were 
placed  one  on  top  of  the  other.  Over  the  top 
of  the  bed  was  a frame  of  wood  handsomely 
carved  and  from  this  frame  white  crepe  curtains, 
beautifully  embroidered,  hung,  and  numerous  lit- 
tle gauze  silk  bags  filled  with  scent  were  sus- 
pended from  the  carved  work  of  the  frame.  The 
odor  from  these  hags  was  very  strong  and  made 
one  feel  sick  until  they  became  used  to  it.  Her 
Majesty  was  also  very  fond  of  musk  and  used 
it  on  all  occasions. 

It  took  us  about  fifteen  minutes  to  make  the 
bed,  and  when  I had  finished,  I turned  around 
and  saw  that  Her  Majesty  was  dressing  her  hair. 
I stood  beside  her  Majesty  while  the  eunuch 
was  dressing  it  and  saw  that  as  old  as  she  was, 
she  still  had  beautiful  long  hair  which  was  as  soft 
as  velvet  and  raven  black.  She  parted  it  in  the 
center  and  brought  it  low  at  the  back  of  her  ears, 
and  the  back  braid  was  brushed  up  on  the  top 
of  her  head  and  made  it  into  a tight  knot.  When 
she  had  finished  doing  this,  she  was  ready  to  have 


64*  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


the  Gu’un  Dzan  (Manchu  headdress)  placed  on 
and  pinned  through  the  knot  with  two  large  pins. 
Her  Majesty  always  dressed  her  hair  first  and 
then  washed  her  face.  She  was  as  fussy  and 
particular  as  a young  girl  and  would  give  it  to 
the  eunuch  if  he  did  not  get  it  just  to  suit  her. 
She  had  dozens  of  bottles  of  all  kinds  of  perfume, 
also  perfumed  soap.  When  she  had  finished 
washing  her  face,  she  dried  it  on  a soft  towel  and 
sprayed  it  with  a kind  of  glycerine  made  of 
honey  and  flower  petals.  After  that  she  put 
some  kind  of  strong  scented  pink  powder  on  her 
face. 

When  she  had  completed  her  toilet,  she  turned 
to  me  and  said : “It  must  seem  to  you  quite  funny 
to  see  an  old  lady  like  me  taking  so  much  care 
and  pains  in  dressing  and  fixing  up.  Well!  I 
like  to  dress  myself  up  and  to  see  others  dress 
nicety.  It  always  gives  me  pleasure  to  see  pretty 
girls  dressed  nicety;  it  makes  you  want  to  be 
young  again  yourself.”  I told  her  that  she 
looked  quite  young  and  was  still  beautiful,  and 
that  although  we  were  young  we  would  never 
dare  compare  ourselves  with  her.  This  pleased 
her  very  much,  as  she  was  very  fond  of  compli- 
ments, and  I took  great  pains  that  morning  to 
study  her  and  to  find  out  what  she  liked  and 
what  she  didn’t. 

After  this  Her  Majesty  took  me  into  another 


IN  ATTENDANCE  ON  HER  MAJESTY  65 


room  and  showed  me  where  her  jewels  were  kept. 
This  room  was  covered  with  shelves  on  three 
sides  of  the  room  from  top  to  bottom,  on  which 
were  placed  piles  of  ebony  boxes  all  containing 
jewels.  Small  yellow  strips  were  pasted  on  some 
of  the  boxes  on  which  was  written  the  contents. 
Her  Majesty  pointed  to  a row  of  boxes  on  the 
right  side  of  the  room  and  said:  “Here  is  where 
I keep  my  favorite  everyday  jewels,  and  some 
day  you  must  go  over  them  and  see  that  they  are 
all  there.  The  rest  are  all  jewels  which  I wear 
on  special  occasions.  There  are  about  three  thou- 
sand boxes  in  this  room  and  I have  a lot  more 
locked  up  in  my  safety  room,  which  I will  show 
you  when  I am  not  busy.”  Then  she  said:  ‘T 
am  sorry  you  cannot  read  and  write  Chinese, 
otherwise  I would  give  you  a list  of  these  things 
and  you  could  keep  a check  on  them.”  I was 
very  much  surprised  at  this  and  wondered  who 
had  told  her  I couldn’t.  I was  anxious  to  know, 
but  did  not  dare  to  ask  her,  so  I told  her  that 
although  I was  not  a scholar,  I had  studied 
Chinese  for  some  time  and  could  read  and  write 
a little,  that  if  she  would  give  me  a list  I would 
try  and  read  it.  She  said:  “That  is  funny,  some- 
one told  me  the  first  day  you  were  here,  I forget 
now  who  it  was,  that  you  could  not  read  or  write 
your  own  language  at  all.”  While  she  was  say- 
ing this,  she  was  looking  all  around  the  room  and 


66  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


I was  sure  she  knew  who  it  wTas  that  had  told 
her,  but  she  would  not  tell  me.  Then  she  said: 
“When  we  have  time  this  afternoon,  I will  go 
over  this  list  with  you.  Bring  me  those  five 
boxes  on  the  first  row  of  shelves.”  I brought  the 
boxes  to  her  room  and  placed  them  on  the  table. 
She  opened  the  first  one  and  it  contained  a most 
beautiful  peony  made  of  coral  and  jade  and  each 
petal  trembled  like  a real  flower.  This  flower 
was  made  by  stringing  the  petals  which  were 
made  of  coral  on  very  fine  brass  wire,  also  the 
leaves  which  were  made  of  pure  jade.  She  took 
this  flower  and  placed  it  on  the  right  side  of  her 
headdress.  Then  she  opened  another  box  and 
took  from  it  a magnificent  jade  butterfly  made  in 
the  same  way.  This  was  an  invention  of  her 
own  and  it  was  done  by  carving  the  coral  and 
jade  into  petals  and  leaves  and  boring  holes  in 
the  lower  ends  through  which  brass  wire  was  run. 
The  other  two  boxes  contained  bracelets  and 
rings  of  different  patterns.  There  was  a pair  of 
gold  bracelets  set  with  pearls,  another  pair  set 
with  jade,  with  a piece  of  jade  hanging  from  the 
end  of  a small  gold  chain,  etc.  The  last  two 
contained  chains  of  pearls,  the  like  of  which  I 
never  saw  before,  and  I fell  in  love  with  them  at 
once.  Her  Majesty  took  one  which  was  made 
into  a plum  blossom  string  by  winding  a circle 
of  five  pearls  around  a larger  one,  then  one  single 


IN  ATTENDANCE  ON  HER  MAJESTY  67 


pearl,  then  another  circle  of  five  pearls  around  a 
large  one,  and  so  on,  making  quite  a long  chain, 
which  she  suspended  from  one  of  the  buttons  of 
her  gown. 

At  this  juncture  one  of  the  Court  ladies  came 
in  carrying  several  gowns  for  Her  Majesty  to  se- 
lect from.  She  looked  at  them  and  said  that  none 
of  them  suited  her,  to  take  them  back  and  bring 
more.  I had  a look  at  them  and  thought  they 
were  perfectly  lovely,  such  pretty  colors  and  so 
beautifully  embroidered.  In  a short  while  the 
same  Court  lady  came  back  carrying  more,  and 
from  these  Her  Majesty  selected  a sea-green  one 
embroidered  all  over  with  -white  storks.  She  put 
this  gown  on  and  looked  at  herself  in  the  mirror 
for  a while,  then  took  off  her  jade  butterfly.  She 
said:  “You  see  I am  very  particular  about  little 
details.  The  jade  butterfly  is  too  green  and  it 
kills  my  gown.  Put  it  back  in  the  box  and  bring 
me  a pearl  stork  in  No.  35  box.”  I went  back 
to  the  jewel  room  and  fortunately  found  No. 
35  box  and  brought  it  to  her.  She  opened  the 
box  and  took  from  it  a stork  made  entirely  of 
pearls  set  in  silver,  the  bird’s  bill  being  made  of 
coral.  The  pearls  making  the  body  of  the  bird 
were  so  cleverly  set  that  the  silver  could  not  be 
seen  at  all  unless  one  looked  at  it  very  closely. 
It  was  a most  magnificent  piece  of  workmanship 
and  the  pearls  were  of  perfect  color  and  shape. 


68  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


Her  Majesty  took  it  and  placed  it  in  her  hair 
and  did  look  very  graceful  and  pretty.  Then  she 
picked  out  a mauve-colored  short  jacket,  also  em- 
broidered with  storks,  which  she  put  on  over  her 
gown.  Her  handkerchief  and  shoes  were  also 
embroidered  with  storks  and  .when  she  was  en- 
tirely dressed  she  looked  like  the  stork  lady. 

J ust  as  she  had  finished  dressing,  the  Emperor 
Kwang  Hsu  came  into  the  bedroom  dressed  in 
his  official  clothes.  These  clothes  were  exactly 
like  other  official  clothes,  except  that  he  had  no 
button  on  his  hat  and  did  not  wear  the  peacock 
feather.  He  knelt  down  before  Her  Majesty 
and  said:  “Chin  Baba,  Chi  Hsiang”  (dear  father, 
all  joy  be  with  you).  It  may  seem  curious  that 
the  Emperor  and  all  of  us  should  call  Her  Maj- 
esty father,  and  the  reason  why  this  was  done 
was  because  Her  Majesty  always  wanted  to  be 
a man  and  compelled  everyone  to  address  her  as 
if  she  were  actually  one.  This  was  only  one  of 
her  many  peculiarities. 

I did  not  know  whether  to  courtesy  to  the  Em- 
peror or  not,  not  having  received  any  orders  as 
to  what  I should  do.  However,  I thought  it 
better  to  be  too  polite  than  not  enough,  so  I 
waited  until  either  he  or  Her  Majesty  went  out 
of  the  room,  as  we  were  not  allowed  to  salute  or 
courtesy  to  anyone  in  her  presence.  In  a little 
while  the  Emperor  went  out  and  I followed  him 


The  Empress  Dowager  dressed  in  her  bamboo  leaf  embroidered 
robe  and  wearing  her  famous  pearl  cape  made  of 
three  thousand  five  hundred  pearls  of  per- 
fect shape  and  color 


IN  ATTENDANCE  ON  HER  MAJESTY  69 


out  into  the  hall  and  just  as  I was  in  the  act  of 
courtesying  Her  Majesty  came  out.  She  looked 
at  me  in  a very  peculiar  way,  as  if  she  did  not 
approve  of  what  I had  done,  but  said  nothing. 
I felt  very  uncomfortable  and  made  up  my  mind 
that  being  too  polite  did  not  always  pay  after 
all. 

I then  returned  to  the  room  again  and  saw  a 
small  eunuch  placing  several  yellow  boxes  on  a 
table  at  the  left  side  of  the  room.  Her  Majesty 
seated  herself  in  a large  chair,  which  was  called 
her  little  throne,  and  this  eunuch  opened  the 
boxes,  took  a yellow  envelope  from  each  box  and 
handed  them  to  Her  Majesty.  She  opened  these 
envelopes  with  an  ivory  paper  knife  and  read 
their  contents.  They  were  memorials  from  the 
heads  of  the  different  Boards,  or  from  the  Vice- 
roys of  the  different  Provinces.  The  Emperor 
had  come  back  and  was  standing  at  the  side  of 
this  table  and  after  she  had  finished  reading,  she 
handed  them  over  to  him.  While  all  this  was 
being  done  I stood  at  the  back  of  her  chair.  I 
wratched  the  Emperor  as  the  different  papers 
were  handed  to  him  and  noticed  that  it  did  not 
take  him  very  long  to  finish  reading  their  con- 
tents. After  he  was  finished  reading  the  papers, 
they  were  placed  back  in  the  boxes.  During  all 
this  time  absolute  silence  was  maintained.  Just 
as  they  had  finished  the  head  eunuch  came  in, 


70  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


knelt  down  and  announced  that  Her  Majesty’s 
chair  was  ready.  She  immediately  got  up  and 
went  out  of  the  house,  we  following  her,  and  I 
took  her  arm  while  she  was  descending  the  steps 
to  go  to  her  chair.  When  she  had  entered  the 
chair  to  go  to  the  Audience  Hall,  the  Emperor 
and  Young  Empress  and  we  all  followed  in  our 
usual  places,  the  eunuchs,  amahs  and  servant 
girls  carrying  all  the  things  exactly  the  same  as 
was  done  the  first  day  I came  to  the  Palace. 
When  we  arrived  at  the  Audience  Hall,  we  took 
our  places  behind  the  big  screen  and  the  audience 
commenced.  I was  very  curious  to  find  out  just 
how  the  audiences  were  conducted  and  wanted  to 
listen  to  what  was  going  on,  but  the  Court  ladies 
would  not  leave  me  alone.  However,  when  they 
were  all  talking  together  with  my  sister,  I stole 
away  into  a corner  where  I could  sit  and  rest 
and  listen  to  the  conversation  between  the  differ- 
ent Ministers  and  Her  Majesty.  Trust  a 
woman  for  being  inquisitive. 

The  first  part  of  the  audience  I could  not  hear 
very  well,  as  so  many  people  were  whispering  and 
talking  at  the  same  time,  but  by  peeping  through 
the  carved-work  of  the  screen,  I could  see  a Gen- 
eral talking  to  Her  Majesty.  I also  saw  the 
members  of  the  Grand  Council  come  in  headed  by 
Prince  Ching,  who  was  the  Councillor-in-Chief. 
After  the  General  had  finished,  Her  Majesty 


IN  ATTENDANCE  ON  HER  MAJESTY  71 


talked  with  Prince  Ching  about  the  appointment 
of  some  minor  officials,  a list  of  whose  names  had 
been  handed  to  her.  She  looked  over  this  list  and 
spoke  about  several  of  the  people,  but  Prince 
Ching  suggested  some  others,  saying:  “Although 
these  people  whose  names  have  been  submitted  to 
Your  Majesty  should  receive  appointments, 
those  that  I have  suggested  are  better  fitted  for 
the  positions.”  Her  Majesty  said:  “All  right, 
I leave  it  all  to  you.”  Then  I heard  Her  Maj- 
esty say  to  the  Emperor,  “Is  that  correct?”  and 
he  replied,  “Yes.”  This  finished  the  Audience 
for  the  morning  and  the  Ministers  and  Grand 
Councillors  took  their  leave.  We  came  out  from 
behind  the  screen  to  Her  Majesty  and  she  said 
that  she  wanted  to  go  for  a walk  to  get  some 
fresh  air.  The  servant  girls  brought  her  a mir- 
ror, placed  it  on  a table,  and  Her  Majesty  took 
off  her  heavy  headdress,  leaving  the  simple  knot 
on  the  top  of  her  head,  which  was  quite  becom- 
ing. She  wanted  to  change  some  of  the  flower 
jewels  and  I opened  a box  which  one  of  the 
eunuchs  had  brought  and  took  out  some  very 
dainty  flowers  made  of  pearls.  I handed  her 
one  which  she  placed  at  the  side  of  this  knot,  then 
she  selected  a jade  dragonfly  which  she  placed 
on  the  other  side.  She  said  these  small  flowers 
were  favorites  of  hers  and  she  liked  to  wear  them 
when  she  took  off  her  heavy  headdress.  I was 


72  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


watching  her  very  closely  and  wondered  what  I 
was  going  to  do  with  the  flowers  she  had  taken 
off.  I had  not  brought  the  boxes  to  put  them 
in,  as  I did  not  know  she  was  going  to  change 
again  after  the  audience,  and  felt  a little  nerv- 
ous as  to  wThat  was  the  right  thing  to  do,  or  as 
to  what  she  would  say.  However,  I saw  a 
eunuch  come  in  carrying  these  boxes  and  felt 
much  relieved.  I quickly  placed  the  things  in 
the  boxes  where  they  belonged. 


CHAPTER  SEVEN 


SOME  INCIDENTS  OF  THE  COURT 

■S 

My  first  day  with  Her  Majesty  was  very  try- 
ing as  I did  not  know  just  what  she  wanted  or 
how  she  wanted  things  done,  and  no  one  seemed 
willing  to  tell  me;  but  by  watching  very  closely 
I was  soon  able  to  grasp  the  situation.  After  I 
had  finished  putting  the  things  in  the  boxes  I 
did  not  know  whether  to  take  them  back  to  the 
jewel  room  or  not,  or  whether  to  wait  until  Her 
Majesty  ordered  me,  and  again  I was  in  a quan- 
dary. I saw  she  was  talking  to  my  mother,  so 
I waited  a little  time  and  finally  made  up  my 
mind  I would  risk  it  and  take  them  back,  which 
I did.  As  I was  returning  I met  Her  Majesty 
in  the  big  courtyard.  She  had  just  changed  her 
gown  again  and  looked  much  shorter  as  she  had 
also  changed  her  shoes  for  ones  with  lower  heels. 
This  gown  was  made  of  heavy  sky-blue  crepe 
with  no  embroidery  at  all,  just  trimmed  with 
pale  pink  ribbons,  and  she  looked  very  nice  in 
it.  When  Her  Majesty  saw  me,  she  asked  me: 
“Where  have  you  been?”  I told  her  that  I had 
just  been  putting  her  jewels  away.  Then  she 

73 


74  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


said:  “Has  anyone  told  you  to  put  them  away 
as  soon  as  I am  finished  with  them?  I forgot 
to  tell  you  this  morning,  although  I had  meant 
to.”  I said  that  no  one  had  told  me  anything, 
that  I was  afraid  to  have  the  eunuchs  taking  such 
valuable  things  here  and  there,  that  I was  sure 
that  she  did  not  want  to  use  them  any  more,  so 
I thought  it  would  be  safer  to  put  them  away  in 
the  jewel  room  again.  Her  Majesty  looked  at 
me  and  said:  “I  can  see  that  these  girls  don’t  tell 
you  anything  and  I am  very  glad  to  see  that  you 
have  done  just  the  right  thing.  That  is  why  I 
thought  someone  must  have  told  you  what  to  do. 
Anything  you  want  to  know  you  can  ask  me,  but 
don’t  talk  to  these  mean  people  here.”  I could 
see  from  this  that  there  must  be  some  jealousy 
among  them  and  decided  that  I was  well  able  to 
find  my  own  way,  as  I knew  Her  Majesty  liked 
me  and  would  help  me  out. 

Her  Majesty  walked  along  a little  way,  then 
laughed  and  said  to  me:  “Don’t  I look  more  com- 
fortable now?  I am  going  for  a long  walk  and 
take  lunch  on  the  top  of  the  hill.  There  is  a nice 
place  up  there  and  I am  sure  you  will  like  it. 
Come,  let  us  go.” 

The  Emperor  had  gone  back  to  his  own  Pal- 
ace, and  the  head  eunuch  had  also  disappeared. 
As  we  were  walking  along,  Her  Majesty  was 
talking  and  smiling  as  if  she  had  never  a care 


SOME  INCIDENTS  OF  THE  COURT  75 


or  trouble  in  the  world,  or  any  important  ques- 
tions of  state  to  settle.  I thought  from  what  I 
had  seen  so  far  that  she  had  a very  sweet  dispo- 
sition. She  looked  back  and  said:  “Just  see  how 
many  people  are  following  us.”  I turned  and 
saw  the  same  crowd  that  had  accompanied  Her 
Majesty  earlier  in  the  day  to  the  Audience  Hall. 

After  passing  out  of  the  large  courtyard  on 
the  West  side,  we  came  to  a large,  long  veranda 
running  in  a zig-zag  fashion  along  the  front  of 
the  lake,  and  it  was  so  long  that  I could  not  see 
the  end  of  it.  It  was  very  prettily  made  of  solid 
carved  work  from  one  end  to  the  other.  Electric 
lights  were  hanging  from  the  ceiling  at  intervals, 
and  when  they  were  lighted  at  night,  made  a 
beautiful  sight. 

Her  Majesty  was  a very  fast  walker  and  we 
had  to  step  lively  to  keep  up  with  her.  The 
eunuchs  and  the  servant  girls  walked  on  the  right 
side  and  only  one  of  the  eunuchs  was  allowed  to 
walk  behind  us,  and  he  was  the  one  who  carried 
Her  Majesty’s  yellow  satin  stool,  which,  like  her 
dog,  went  everywhere  she  did.  This  stool  she 
used  to  rest  on  when  taking  a walk.  We  walked 
for  quite  a long  while  and  I began  to  feel  tired, 
but  Her  Majesty,  as  old  as  she  was,  was  still 
walking  very  fast  and  did  not  appear  to  be  the 
least  bit  tired.  She  asked  me  if  I liked  the  Pal- 
ace and  whether  I would  be  satisfied  to  live  with 


76  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


her,  etc.  I told  her  that  it  was  a great  pleasure 
for  me  to  serve  her,  that  it  had  been  my  dream 
for  years,  and  now  that  my  dream  had  come  true, 
I could  not  help  but  be  satisfied. 

We  finally  arrived  at  the  place  where  the  mar- 
ble boat  was  kept,  and  I was  about  finished.  I 
never  saw  such  vitality  in  an  old  woman  in  my 
life  as  Her  Majesty  had,  and  it  was  no  wonder 
that  she  had  ruled  this  vast  Empire  of  China  so 
successfully  for  so  many  years. 

This  boat  was  magnificent,  being  one  mass  of 
carved  work,  but  the  inside  was  all  spoiled.  Her 
Majesty  showed  us  all  over  the  boat,  and  whilst 
we  were  looking  at  the  ruin,  she  said:  “Look  at 
those  colored  glasses  in  the  windows  and  these 
beautiful  paintings.  They  were  all  spoiled  by 
the  foreign  troops  in  1900.  I don’t  intend  to 
have  it  repaired  as  I don’t  want  to  forget  the 
lesson  I have  learned  and  this  is  a good  re- 
minder.” After  we  had  been  standing  there  a 
few  minutes,  a eunuch  who  had  been  carrying 
the  famous  satin  stool,  came  forward,  and  Her 
Majesty  sat  doAvn  to  rest.  While  we  were  talk- 
ing I noticed  two  large  and  very  fancy-looking 
boats  approaching  us,  with  several  smaller  ones 
coming  along  behind.  As  they  came  nearer  I 
saw  that  they  were  also  very  beautifully  made, 
and  looked  like  floating  pagodas  of  beautifully 
carved  natural  wood.  The  windows  of  the 


SOME  INCIDENTS  OF  THE  COURT  77i 


pagodas  were  hung  with  red  gauze  curtains  and 
all  was  trimmed  with  silk.  Her  Majesty  said: 
“There  are  the  boats.  We  must  go  over  to  the 
west  side  of  the  lake  and  have  luncheon.”  Her 
Majesty  got  up  and  walked  to  the  edge  of  the 
lake,  two  eunuchs  supporting  her,  one  at  each 
side.  She  stepped  into  the  boat  and  we  all  fol- 
lowed her  example.  The  inside  of  the  boat  was 
very  nicely  furnished  with  carved  ebony  furni- 
ture with  blue  satin  cushions,  one  with  many  pots 
of  flowers  on  both  sides  of  the  window.  There 
were  two  more  cabins  behind  this  sitting  room. 
Her  Majesty  told  me  to  go  in  to  see  those  two 
rooms.  One  little  room  was  a dressing  room 
full  of  toilet  articles.  The  other  one  had  two 
couches  and  several  small  chairs  for  Her 
Majesty  to  rest  whenever  she  felt  tired.  Her 
Majesty  sat  on  her  throne  and  ordered  us  to  sit 
on  the  floor.  The  eunuchs  brought  in  red  satin 
cushions  for  us  to  sit  upon.  To  sit  on  the  floor 
is  all  right  for  Chinese  clothes,  but  of  course  it 
was  out  of  the  question  with  Paris  gowns,  and 
I felt  very  uncomfortable,  but  did  not  like  to 
say  so.  I wanted  to  change  into  Manchu  clothes, 
for  I knew  they  were  comfortable  and  easy  to 
work  in,  but  having  received  no  order  from  Her 
Majesty,  I did  not  dare  to  suggest  it.  Her 
Majesty  noticed  how  very  uncomfortable  we 
looked  sitting  on  the  floor.  She  said:  “You  can 


78  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


stand  up  if  you  want  to  and  just  watch  those 
boats  following  us.”  I put  my  head  out  of  the 
window  and  noticed  the  Young  Empress  and 
several  other  Court  ladies  were  in  the  other  boat. 
They  waved  to  me,  and  I waved  back.  Her 
Majesty  laughed  and  said  to  me:  “I  give  you 
this  apple  to  throw  to  them.”  While  saying  this 
she  took  one  from  the  big  plates  that  stood  upon 
the  center  table.  I tried  very  hard,  but  the 
apple  did  not  reach  the  other  boat,  hut  went  to 
the  bottom  of  the  lake.  Her  Majesty  laughed 
and  told  me  to  try  again,  but  I failed.  Finally, 
she  took  one  and  threw  it  herself.  It  went 
straight  to  the  other  boat  and  hit  one  of  the 
ladies’  head.  We  all  laughed  quite  heartily. 
Then  I began  to  enjoy  myself.  There  were 
several  open  boats  full  of  eunuchs,  and  another 
one  of  servant  girls,  amahs  and  the  rest  with 
Her  [Majesty’s  luncheon.  The  lake  was  beau- 
tiful and  looked  so  green  in  the  sun.  I told  Her 
[Majesty  that  this  color  reminded  me  of  the  sea. 
She  said:  “You  have  travelled  so  much,  and  yet 
you  have  not  had  enough,  but  are  still  thinking 
of  the  sea.  You  must  not  go  abroad  any  more, 
but  stay  with  me.  I want  you  to  enjoy  this 
sailing  on  this  lake  instead  of  the  rough  sea.” 
I promised  her  that  I would  be  only  too  happy 
to  stay  with  her.  I must  say  the  truth,  I did 
enjoy  the  lovely  scenery,  the  beautiful  weather, 


SOME  INCIDENTS  OF  THE  COURT  79 


superb  sunshine,  with  Her  Majesty  so  kind  to 
me  and  talking  to  me  in  such  a motherly  way 
made  me  love  her  more  and  more  every  minute 
I was  there.  I was  so  extremely  happy  there 
that  even  Paris  pleasures  had  gone  out  of  my 
memory  entirely. 

At  last  we  arrived  at  another  part  of  the  lake. 
This  was  more  of  a stream,  very  narrow,  just 
wide  enough  for  one  boat  to  pass.  On  both 
sides  of  the  bank  were  planted  drooping  willow 
trees  that  reminded  me  of  the  Chinese  Fairy 
tales  I have  read.  This  time  I saw  the  servant 
girls,  amahs,  and  also  eunuchs  carrying  boxes, 
walking  on  both  sides  of  the  shore.  Only  two 
boats  were  going  then,  the  Young  Empress’  and 
ours.  Her  Majesty  said:  “We  will  arrive  at 
the  bottom  of  the  hill  in  a few  minutes.”  When 
we  came  near  the  shore  I saw  her  yellow  chair 
and  several  red  chairs  waiting.  We  landed  and 
walked  to  the  chairs.  I watched  Her  Majesty 
get  into  hers  and  noticed  this  was  not  the  same 
chair  she  used  this  morning.  This  little  one  was, 
of  course,  of  yellow,  with  yellow  poles,  and  two 
eunuchs  carried  it,  with  yellow  rope  across  their 
shoulders,  and  four  eunuchs  supported  the  poles, 
one  on  each  corner  of  the  chair.  They  were  just 
going  to  raise  her  chair  up  when  she  said:  “Yu 
tai  tai  (Lady  Yii)  I give  you  and  your  daugh- 
ters special  favor  and  give  you  a red  chair  with 


80  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


red  cord  that  I have  given  to  only  a few  people.” 
The  Young  Empress  looked  at  us,  which  I un- 
derstood at  once  was  meant  for  us  to  kowtow  to 
her,  which  we  did,  and  waited  until  the  Empress 
got  into  hers.  Then  we  went  to  search  for  ours. 
To  my  surprise  our  own  eunuchs  were  standing 
waiting  beside  our  chairs.  On  the  poles  I noticed 
that  my  name  was  written  and  I asked  our 
eunuch  the  reason.  He  said  that  Her  Majesty 
gave  the  order  the  night  before.  It  was  a lovely 
ride  going  to  the  top  of  the  hill.  I saw  Her 
Majesty’s  chair  in  front,  and  the  Young  Em- 
press’. They  looked  to  me  quite  dangerous  in 
ascending  that  way,  and  the  men  at  the  back 
of  the  chair  had  to  raise  the  poles  above  their 
heads  so  as  to  make  the  chair  the  same  level 
in  ascending.  I was  quite  nervous  and  was 
very  much  afraid  that  they  might  fall  off  and 
injure  me.  Our  eunuchs  were  walking  beside 
our  chairs.  I said  to  one  of  them  that  I was 
afraid  the  chair  bearers  might  slip.  He  told 
me  to  look  back  of  my  chair,  which  I did,  and 
to  my  surprise  they  had  the  poles  raised  up  also 
above  their  heads,  and  I did  not  feel  it  at  all. 
He  told  me  that  these  chair  bearers  practice  for 
such  purposes  and  that  there  was  no  danger  at 
all.  It  made  my  heart  stop  beating  looking  back 
and  seeing  the  other  Court  ladies  in  their  chairs 
way  below  mine,  the  eunuchs  and  servant  girls 


The  Empress  Dowager,  Lady  Yii,  Lady  Roong  Ling 
(mother  and  sister  of  the  writer)  and  the  writer,  going 
down  Peony  Hill  in  the  winter  time 


SOME  INCIDENTS  OF  THE  COURT  81 


walking,  for  fear  I might  fall  off  at  any  time. 
At  last  we  arrived  at  the  top  of  the  hill.  We 
helped  Her  Majesty  to  alight  and  followed  her 
into  the  most  lovely  building  I ever  saw,  the  best 
one  in  the  Summer  Palace  to  my  idea  (name  of 
this  pavilion,  Cliing  Fo  Ker).  This  Palace 
had  only  two  rooms,  with  windows  on  every  side. 
One  could  see  everywhere.  Her  Majesty  used 
one  large  one  to  take  her  luncheon  in  and  the 
other  as  a toilet  room.  I noticed  that  wherever 
we  went  we  found  Her  Majesty’s  toilet  room. 
Her  Majesty  took  us  around  the  compound  and 
showed  us  the  lovely  flowers  planted  everywhere. 
One  of  the  young  eunuchs  told  me  that  Her 
Majesty’s  dainties  were  ready.  That  was  my 
first  day  of  real  work.  I went  out  and  found 
two  large  yellow  boxes  of  different  kinds  of  can- 
dies and  fruits,  as  I have  before  mentioned.  I 
carried  two  plates  at  a time,  and  finished  in  nine 
times,  placing  them  on  a square  table  near  her. 
She  was  talking  to  my  mother  then  about  flow- 
ers. I noticed  that  although  she  was  talking,  she 
was  watching  me  at  the  same  time.  I placed  the 
plates  upon  the  table  very  carefully,  and  already 
having  noticed  the  day  before  what  were  her 
favorite  dishes,  and  placed  these  near  her.  She 
smiled  at  me  and  said:  “You  have  done  it  very 
nicely.  And  how  do  you  know  that  these  are 
my  favorites  and  have  placed  them  near  me? 


82  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


Who  told  you?”  I replied  that  no  one  had  told 
me  anything  and  that  I had  noticed  the  day 
before  what  Lao  Tsu  Tsung  liked  (according  to 
the  Manchu  custom  one  must  address  a superior 
or  one’s  parents  in  the  third  person).  Her 
Majesty  said:  “I  can  see  you  use  your  heart  in 
everything  (in  China  people  say  heart  instead 
of  head)  and  are  not  like  the  crowd  I have  here; 
they  haven’t  the  brains  of  a bird.”  She  was  soon 
busy  eating,  and  gave  me  some  candies,  and  told 
me  to  eat  right  there  in  her  presence.  Of  course 
I never  forgot  to  thank  her,  for  I thought  I had 
rather  thank  her  too  much  than  too  little.  She 
told  me:  “Whenever  I give  you  small  things 
you  need  not  kowtow.  Just  say:  ‘Hsieh  Lao  Tsu 
Tsung  Shang’  (Thank  the  old  ancestor),  that  is 
enough.”  After  a little  while  she  finished  eat- 
ing, and  told  me  to  take  the  dishes  away.  She 
said:  “To-day  is  your  day,  so  these  things  are 
yours.  Take  them  out  and  sit  down  on  the 
veranda  and  enjoy  yourself.  You  see  I could 
not  eat  all.  There  are  lots  of  things  left.  If 
you  like  you  can  tell  your  own  eunuch  to  send 
them  to  your  room.”  I placed  the  little  dishes 
back  in  the  boxes  and  took  them  to  the  veranda. 
There  I placed  them  upon  the  table  and  told  the 
Young  Empress  to  eat  some.  I did  not  know 
whether  it  was  right  to  offer  them  to  her  or  not 
and  thought  I could  not  do  her  any  harm,  even 


SOME  INCIDENTS  OF  THE  COURT  83 


if  I tried.  She  said  all  right,  that  she  would  eat 
some.  I took  a piece  of  candy  and  had  just  put 
it  into  my  mouth  when  I heard  Her  Majesty 
calling  my  name.  I hurried  in  and  found  her 
sitting  at  her  table  ready  to  take  her  lunch.  She 
said : “What  else  did  Mdme.  Platon  say  yester- 
day? Was  she  really  pleased?  Do  you  think 
they,  the  foreigners,  really  like  me?  I don’t 
think  so;  on  the  contrary  I know  they  haven’t 
forgotten  the  Boxer  Rising  in  Kwang  Hsu’s  26th 
year.  I don’t  mind  owning  up  that  I like  our 
old  ways  the  best,  and  I don’t  see  any  reason 
why  we  should  adopt  the  foreign  style.  Did 
any  of  the  foreign  ladies  ever  tell  you  that  I 
am  a fierce-looking  old  woman?”  I was  very 
much  surprised  that  she  should  call  me  in  and 
ask  me  such  questions  during  her  meal.  She 
looked  quite  serious  and  it  seemed  to  me  she  was 
quite  annoyed.  I assured  her  that  no  one  ever 
said  anything  about  Her  Majesty  but  nice 
things.  The  foreigners  told  me  how  nice  she 
was,  and  how  graceful,  etc.  This  seemed  to 
please  her,  and  she  smiled  and  said:  “Of  course 
they  have  to  tell  you  that,  just  to  make  you  feel 
happy  by  saying  that  your  sovereign  is  perfect, 
but  I know  better.  I can’t  worry  too  much,  but 
I hate  to  see  China  in  such  a poor  condition. 
Although  the  people  around  me  seem  to  comfort 
me  by  telling  that  almost  every  nation  feels  very 


84*  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


friendly  towards  China,  I don’t  think  that  is 
true.  I hope  we  will  be  strong  some  day.” 
While  she  was  saying  this  I noticed  her  worried 
expression.  I did  not  know  what  to  say,  but 
tried  to  comfort  her  by  saying  that  that  time  will 
come,  and  we  are  all  looking  forward  to  it.  I 
wanted  to  advise  her  on  some  points,  but  seeing 
that  she  was  angry,  I thought  I had  better  not 
make  any  suggestions  that  day,  but  wait  until 
I had  another  opportunity.  I felt  sorry  for  her, 
and  would  have  given  anything  in  the  world  to 
help  her  by  telling  what  the  general  opinion  of 
her  was  so  as  to  let  her  know  the  truth,  which  no 
one  dared  to  tell  her.  Something  told  me  to  be 
silent.  I kept  thinking  all  the  time  she  was  talk- 
ing to  me,  and  finally  made  up  my  mind  that 
the  time  was  not  yet  ripe  for  me  to  make  any 
suggestion.  I had  grown  to  love  her  very  much, 
so  I wanted  to  take  care  not  to  offend  her;  that 
would  probably  finish  my  ambition.  I wanted  to 
study  her  first  thoroughly  and  then  try  to  influ- 
ence her  to  reform  China. 

I stood  all  the  time  while  she  was  eating.  She 
got  up  from  the  table  and  handed  me  her  napkin 
(this  napkin  was  made  of  a piece  of  silk  a yard 
square,  woven  in  many  colors ) . One  corner  was 
turned  in,  and  a golden  butterfly  was  fastened 
to  it.  It  had  a hook  at  the  back  of  this  butter- 
fly so  as  to  hook  on  her  collar.  She  said:  “I 


SOME  INCIDENTS  OF  THE  COURT  85 


am  sure  you  must  be  hungry.  Go  and  tell  the 
Young  Empress  and  the  rest  of  the  people  to 
come  and  eat.  You  can  eat  anything  you  want 
from  these  tables,  so  eat  all  you  can.”  I was 
very,  very  hungry.  Just  imagine,  I had  been  up 
since  5 :00  o’clock  and  had  only  a light  breakfast, 
and  had  walked  a great  deal.  It  was  almost 
noon  when  Her  Majesty  sat  down  at  her  table. 
She  ate  so  slowly,  too.  While  I stood  there 
talking  to  her  I thought  she  would  never  finish. 
She  ate  a good  meal.  The  Young  Empress 
stood  at  the  head  of  the  table,  and  we  all  stood  on 
either  side.  We  did  not  like  to  be  forward,  so 
we  stood  at  the  other  end  of  the  table.  The  food 
was  very  much  the  same  as  the  first  day  we  were 
there.  Her  Majesty  came  out  from  the  inner 
room,  had  just  finished  washing  her  face  and 
hands,  and  had  changed  into  another  gown. 
This  one  was  simple,  but  very  pretty.  It  was 
woven  with  pink  and  gray  raw  silks,  which  gave 
it  a changeable  light  whenever  she  moved.  She 
came  out  and  said:  “I  want  to  see  you  people 
eat;  why  is  it  that  you  are  standing  at  the  end 
of  the  table,  the  best  dishes  are  not  there?  All 
of  you  come  over  here  and  eat  near  the  Young 
Empress.”  So  we  moved  from  our  end  of  the 
table  to  the  other.  Her  Majesty  stood  near  me, 
and  pointed  to  a smoked  fish  and  wanted  me  to 
try  it,  as  it  was  her  favorite,  and  said:  “Make 


86  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


yourselves  at  home.  You  know  you  have  to 
fight  your  own  battles  here  with  this  crowd.  Of 
course  you  can  come  and  tell  me  if  anyone  does 
not  treat  you  fair.”  Her  Majesty  then  went 
out,  saying  that  she  would  walk  a bit.  I noticed 
that  some  of  the  court  ladies  did  not  look 
pleased,  seeing  that  Her  Majesty  paid  so  much 
attention  to  us.  I could  see  they  were  a little 
jealous  of  me,  but  that  did  not  worry  me  in  the 
least. 

After  we  got  through  our  luncheon,  I followed 
the  Young  Empress,  for  it  was  all  so  new  to  me, 
and  I did  not  know  what  I must  do — whether 
to  join  Her  Majesty  or  not.  After  seeing  that 
they  were  jealous  of  me,  I paid  strict  attention 
to  everything,  so  as  not  to  make  any  mistake  in 
doing  my  work  and  let  them  have  the  satisfac- 
tion of  laughing  at  me.  I would  not  give  them 
the  chance.  I heard  Her  Majesty  talking  to  the 
eunuchs  who  looked  after  the  garden,  about  some 
branches  which  ought  to  be  cut  down,  saying  they 
’were  lazy.  So  we  went  to  her.  She  said  to  us: 
“You  see  I have  to  look  after  everything  myself, 
if  not,  my  flowers  would  he  ruined.  I can’t  de- 
pend on  them  at  all.  I wonder  what  they  are 
good  for.  They  ought  to  look  around  every  day 
and  cut  down  the  dead  branches  and  leaves. 
They  have  not  been  punished  for  several  days  and 
they  are  looking  forward  to  it.”  She  laughed 


SOME  INCIDENTS  OF  THE  COURT  8T 


and  said:  “I  will  not  disappoint  them,  but  give 
them  all  they  wish  to  have.”  I thought  these  peo- 
ple must  be  idiots,  looking  forward  to  a whip- 
ping, and  wondered  who  would  whip  them.  Her 
Majesty  turned  to  me  and  said:  “Have  you  ever 
witnessed  such  an  operation?”  I told  her  that  I 
had,  having  seen  the  convicts  being  whipped  at  a 
Magistrate’s  Yamen  when  I was  a little  girl  liv- 
ing at  Shansi  (on  the  Yangtsze).  She  said: 
“That  is  nothing.  The  convicts  are  not  half  so 
wicked  as  these  eunuchs.  Of  course  they  deserve 
a heavier  punishment  when  they  are  bad.”  Her 
Majesty  said  that  I should  learn  to  play  dice  with 
her,  as  she  never  had  enough  people  to  play  with, 
so  we  went  back  to  the  same  room  where  she  had 
taken  her  lunch.  A square  table  was  in  the  mid- 
dle of  this  large  room  and  a little  throne  of  Her 
Majesty’s,  facing  south  (her  favorite  direction). 
Her  Majesty  sat  on  her  throne  and  said  to  me: 
“I  will  show  you  how  to  play  this  game.  Do 
you  think  you  know  enough  Chinese  to  read  this 
map?”  I noticed  a large  map,  the  same  size  as 
the  table,  and  laid  upon  it,  drawm  in  different 
colors.  In  the  center  of  the  map  was  written 
the  direction  of  the  game.  It  said:  “This  game 
is  called  the  ‘Eight  Fairies  Travel  across  the  Sea.’ 
The  names  are  Lu  Ilsien,  Chang  Hsien,  Li 
Hsien,  Lan  Hsien,  Hang  Hsien,  Tsao  Hsien 
and  Hain  Hsien.  These  seven  were  masculine 


88  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


fairies.  Hor  Hsien  was  the  only  lady  fairy.” 
This  map  was  the  map  of  the  Chinese  Empire, 
and  the  names  of  the  different  provinces  were 
written  on  the  drawing.  There  were  eight  pieces 
of  round  ivory,  about  one  inch  and  a half  in  diam- 
eter and  a quarter  of  an  inch  thick.  The  names 
of  these  fairies  were  engraved  upon  them.  This 
game  could  be  played  either  by  eight  people  or 
four  people,  when  each  person  had  to  take  two 
fairies’  places,  instead  of  one.  A porcelain  bowl 
was  placed  in  the  center  of  the  map,  to  compare 
the  point  by  throwing  six  dice  into  the  bowl. 
For  instance,  four  people  play.  One  throws 
these  six  dice  into  the  bowl  and  counts  the  points 
on  them.  The  highest  that  one  could  get  was  36, 
and  should  36  be  thrown  the  fairy  should  go  to 
Hangchow  to  enjoy  the  beautiful  scenery.  This 
person  threw  dice  for  Lu  Hsien  and  had  36 
points  and  placed  this  ivory  piece  of  Lu  Hsien 
on  Hangchow  upon  the  map.  The  same  person 
has  to  throw  another  time  for  another  fairy,  so 
each  person  throws  twice  if  four  people  play  the 
game,  and  once  if  played  by  eight.  These  dif- 
ferent points  count  different  provinces.  They 
are  counted  thus: — Six  dice  alike.  One  pair  in 
six  dice,  to  three  pairs.  The  lowest  was  the 
double  1,  2,  3.  If  any  unfortunate  fairy  got  this 
he  should  go  on  exile  and  he  left  out  altogether. 
Any  one  of  the  fairies  that  travelled  round  the 


SOME  INCIDENTS  OF  THE  COURT  89 


map  to  reach  the  Imperial  Palace,  the  first,  was 
the  winner. 

I read  this  to  Her  Majesty.  She  seemed  to 
be  quite  pleased,  and  said:  “I  had  no  idea  that 
you  could  read  so  well.  This  game  was  my  own 
invention  and  I taught  three  Court  ladies  to 
play.  I had  a very  hard  time  teaching  them. 
I also  taught  them  how  to  read  Chinese  in  order 
to  play  the  game,  but  it  took  them  so  long  to 
learn  anything  that  I got  quite  discouraged 
before  I got  through  with  them.  I am  sure  you 
know  how  to  play  it  now.”  I was  very  much 
surprised  to  hear  that  these  Court  ladies  were 
as  ignorant  as  this.  I thought  they  must  be 
excellent  scholars,  so  did  not  dare  to  show  my 
knowledge  of  Chinese  literature.  We  began  to 
play  the  game.  Her  Majesty  was  lucky. 
The  two  fairies  held  by  her  were  way  ahead  of 
ours.  One  of  the  Court  ladies  said  to  me:  “You 
will  be  surprised  to  see  that  Lao  Tsu  Tsung  is 
always  the  winner.”  Her  Majesty  smiled  and 
said  to  me:  “You  will  never  be  able  to  catch  my 
fairies.”  She  said:  “You  are  the  first  day  here  to 
play  this  game  and  if  any  of  your  fairies  beat 
any  of  mine  I will  give  you  a nice  present,  so 
hurry  up.”  I thought  I could  never  get  ahead 
of  her  fairies,  for  they  were  so  far  ahead  of  mine, 
but  I tried  hard,  as  Her  Majesty  told  me  to 
call  out  for  the  points  I wanted.  I did,  but 


90  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


it  came  out  something  so  different  that  it  amused 
her  a great  deal.  I had  no  idea  how  long  we 
were  playing  this  game.  We  counted  who  came 
next,  and  that  was  one  of  my  fairies,  so  Her 
Majesty  said  to  me:  “I  was  sure  you  could  not 
beat  me,  as  no  one  could.  Seeing  that  yours  are 
next  to  mine,  I will  give  you  the  present  just 
the  same.”  While  she  was  saying  this  she  told 
a servant  girl  to  bring  her  some  embroidered 
handkerchiefs.  This  girl  brought  several  col- 
ored ones  to  her,  and  she  asked  me  what  color  I 
preferred.  She  handed  me  a pink  one  and  a 
pale  blue  one,  all  embroidered  with  purple 
wisteria,  and  said:  “These  two  are  the  best,  and 
I want  you  to  take  them.”  I was  just  going 
to  thank  her  by  bowing  to  the  ground,  but  I 
found  that  my  legs  could  not  move.  I tried 
hard  and  succeeded  finally,  with  difficulty.  Her 
Majesty  laughed  very  heartily  at  me  and  said: 
“You  see  you  are  not  accustomed  to  standing 
so  long  and  you  cannot  bend  your  knees  any 
more.”  Although  my  legs  were  sore  I thought 
I had  better  not  show  it,  but  smiled  and  told  her 
that  it  was  nothing,  only  my  legs  were  a little 
stiff,  that  was  all.  She  said:  “You  must  go  and 
sit  on  the  veranda  and  rest  a minute.”  I was 
only  too  glad  to  sit  down,  so  I went  to  the 
veranda  and  found  the  Young  Empress  sitting 
there  with  several  Court  ladies.  The  Young 





The  Empress  Dowager  in  one  of  her  boats  on  the  Lotus  Lake  near  the  Sea  Palace  inside 
of  the  Forbidden  City.  Two  of  her  Court  ladies,  Roong  Ling  and  Tsze 
Gurga,  fourth  daughter  of  Prince  Ching,  are  attending  her 


SOME  INCIDENTS  OF  THE  COURT  91 


Empress  said:  “You  must  be  tired  standing  so 
long.  Come  and  sit  near  me.”  My  legs  were 
very  stiff  and  my  back  was  tired.  Of  course 
Her  Majesty  did  not  know  how  uncomfortable 
we  were  while  she  was  sitting  on  her  cozy  throne. 
Foreign  attire  is  out  of  the  question  for  the  Im- 
perial Palace  of  Peking.  I had  hoped  that  ITer 
Majesty  would  tell  us  to  change  into  our  Manchu 
gowns.  I noticed  that  she  asked  many  questions 
every  day  about  foreign  costumes,  and  she  said: 
“The  foreign  costume  is  not  any  prettier  than 
ours  and  I should  say  they  must  be  quite  uncom- 
fortable round  one’s  waist.  I wouldn’t  be 
squeezed  that  way  for  anything.”  Although  she 
was  saying  such  things  she  did  not  suggest  that 
we  should  give  them  up,  so  we  had  to  wait 
patiently  for  her  orders.  The  Young  Empress 
took  her  watch  out  of  her  pocket,  and  said  to 
me:  “This  game  has  lasted  just  two  hours.”  I 
said  to  her  that  it  seemed  to  me  longer  than  that. 
While  we  were  talking  I saw  our  own  eunuchs 
bringing  four  round  boxes,  made  of  thin  board, 
carried  at  each  end  of  bamboo  poles.  They  put 
them  down  near  where  we  sat,  and  one  of  them 
brought  me  a cup  of  tea.  When  my  mother  and 
sister  came  the  same  eunuch  brought  another  two 
cups,  and  there  were  several  Court  ladies  talking 
with  us.  This  eunuch  did  not  give  them  any. 
I noticed  at  the  other  end  of  this  long  veranda 


92  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


there  were  another  two  boxes,  exactly  the  same 
as  these,  and  a big  tall  eunuch  made  tea  and 
brought  it  to  the  Young  Empress  in  a yellow 
porcelain  cup,  with  a silver  saucer  and  a silver 
top  cover.  He  did  not  give  any  to  the  others. 

I was  puzzled  when  one  of  the  Court  ladies  sit- 
ting next  to  me  said:  “Would  you  mind  telling 
Wang  (our  head  eunuch)  to  give  me  a cup  of 
your  tea,  just  to  save  me  the  trouble  to  go  and 
get  it  from  the  small  room  at  the  end  of  this  long 
veranda?”  I gave  h§r  such  a surprised  look, 
for  I did  not  know  that  this  was  our  tea,  but  I 
thought  I’d  just  tell  Wang  to  bring  her  a cup, 
and  find  out  afterwards  the  reason,  for  I would 
give  anything  in  the  world  rather  than  appear 
ignorant  before  those  people.  While  we  were 
talking  Her  Majesty  came  out.  Before  she 
reached  the  veranda  I got  up  and  told  the  Young 
Empress  that  Her  Majesty  was  coming.  I saw 
her  first  because  I sat  facing  her  back  hall. 
Her  Majesty  said  to  us  all:  “It  is  ahnost  three 
o’clock  now,  and  I am  going  to  rest  a while.  Let 
us  leave  here.”  We  all  stood  in  a line  for  her  to 
enter  her  chair,  and  then  we  went  to  ours.  It 
was  quite  a fast  ride  and  we  got  out  of  our  chairs 
before  arriving  at  the  courtyard  of  her  own  Pal- 
ace. We  walked  ahead  of  her  chair  and  formed 
into  another  line  for  her  to  alight.  She  walked 
to  her  bedroom  and  we  all  followed.  A eunuch 


SOME  INCIDENTS  OF  THE  COURT  93 


brought  her  a cup  of  hot  water  and  another 
brought  a bowl  of  sugar.  She  took  her  golden 
spoon  and  took  two  teaspoonfuls  of  sugar  and 
put  it  into  her  cup  of  hot  water,  and  drank  it 
very  slowly.  She  said:  “You  know  before  one 
goes  to  sleep  or  ever  lies  down,  sugar  water  will 
quiet  one’s  nerves.  I always  take  it,  and  find  it 
very  good  indeed.”  She  took  the  flowers  off 
from  her  headdress  and  I fixed  them  back  in  their 
boxes  at  once,  and  placed  them  in  the  jewel- 
room.  When  I came  out  of  this  jewel-room 
she  was  in  bed  already,  and  said  to  us:  “You  all 
go  and  rest  a while.  I don’t  need  you  now.” 


CHAPTER  EIGHT 


THE  COURT  LADIES 

We  retired  from  her  room,  but  I noticed  that 
two  of  the  Court  ladies  did  not  come  out  with 
us.  One  of  them  said  to  me:  “I  am  glad  that 
I can  rest  a bit  to-day,  for  I have  been  sitting 
three  afternoons  in  succession.”  At  first  I did 
not  know  what  she  meant.  Then  she  said:  “Oh, 
your  turn  has  not  come  yet.  We  don’t  know 
whether  you  received  the  order  or  not.  You 
know  two  of  us  must  stay  with  Her  Majesty  dur- 
ing her  afternoon  siesta,  to  watch  the  eunuchs 
and  the  servant  girls.”  I thought  that  was  the 
funniest  thing  I had  ever  heard  of,  and  wondered 
how  many  people  would  be  in  her  room.  The 
Young  Empress  said:  “We  had  better  go  at  once 
and  rest  ourselves,  otherwise  Her  Majesty  will 
be  up  again  before  we  get  the  chance.”  Of 
course  I had  not  the  least  idea  how  long  she 
slept.  So  we  went  back  to  our  rooms.  I did 
not  realize  how  tired  I was  until  I sat  down  in 
my  room.  I felt  finished  and  awfully  sleepy  at 
the  same  time,  for  I was  not  used  to  getting  up 
at  5 o’clock.  Everything  was  so  new  to  me. 

94 


THE  COURT  LADIES 


95 


As  I sat  there  my  thoughts  wandered  to  Paris, 
and  I thought  how  strange  it  was  that  I used 
to  go  to  bed  at  5 o’clock  after  the  dances,  and 
here  I had  to  get  up  at  such  a time.  All  the  sur- 
roundings seemed  new  to  me,  seeing  the  eunuchs 
running  here  and  there  waiting  on  us,  as  if  they 
were  chambermaids.  I told  them  that  I didn’t 
need  them  any  more.  I wanted  them  to  go  out 
of  the  room  so  that  I could  lie  down  a bit.  They 
brought  us  tea  and  different  kinds  of  candies,  and 
asked  what  else  was  wanted.  I was  just  going 
to  change  into  a comfortable  dress,  when  the 
eunuch  came  in  and  informed  me  that  “Yo  ker 
lila”  (visitors  have  come),  and  two  Court  ladies 
came,  and  another  girl  of  about  seventeen  came 
in.  I had  seen  her  that  very  morning  when  I 
came  to  the  Palace,  busy  working,  but  I was  not 
introduced  to  her.  These  two  girls  said:  “We 
have  come  to  see  you  and  also  to  find  out  if  you 
are  comfortable.”  I thought  they  were  kind  to 
come  and  see  me  that  way,  but  I did  not  like  their 
faces.  They  introduced  this  mean-looking  girl 
to  me  and  told  me  her  name  was  Chun  Shou 
(Graceful  Long  Life).  She  did  not  look  as  if 
her  life  would  last  long,  being  so  thin  and  deli- 
cate. She  looked  sick  and  worn  out  to  me.  I 
did  not  know  who  she  was.  She  courtesied  to  me 
and  I returned  to  her,  in  a sort  of  half  way.  (I 
will  explain  about  the  courtesy. ) 


96  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


(To  Her  Majesty,  the  Emperor  and  the 
Young  Empress,  we  went  down  and  bent  our 
knees,  while  we  stood  upright  to  the  people  of 
lower  rank  than  ourselves.  In  this  case  one  must 
always  wait  while  the  inferior  courtesies  first, 
and  bend  the  knees  a little  bit  in  return.  This 
was  the  way  I returned  Chun  Shou’s  courtesy  to 
me.)  The  two  girls  then  said  “Chun  Shou’s 
father  is  only  a small  official,  so  she  has  not  much 
standing  at  the  Court.  She  is  not  exactly  a 
Court  lady,  but  she  is  not  a servant  girl  either.” 
I ahnost  laughed  right  out,  to  hear  such  a funny 
statement,  and  wondered  what  she  must  be.  I 
saw  her  sitting  down  with  the  Court  ladies  that 
very  morning,  so  of  course  I asked  her  to  sit 
down,  too.  These  two  Court  ladies  asked  me  if 
I felt  tired,  and  how  I liked  the  Empress  Dow- 
ager. I told  them  that  Her  Majesty  was  the 
most  lovely  lady  I had  ever  seen,  and  that  I al- 
ready loved  her  very  much,  although  I had  only 
been  there  a few  days.  They  looked  at  Chun 
Shou  and  exchanged  smiles.  They  did  that  in 
such  a peculiar  way  that  it  annoyed  me.  They 
asked:  “Do  you  think  you  would  like  to  live 
in  this  place,  and  how  long  do  you  intend  to 
stay?”  I said  I would  love  to  stay  long,  and 
would  do  my  best  to  wait  on  Her  Majesty,  and 
be  useful  to  her,  for  she  had  been  so  kind  towards 
us  in  the  short  time  we  had  been  there,  and 


THE  COURT  LADIES 


97 


besides,  it  was  my  duty  to  serve  my  sovereign 
and  country.  They  laughed  and  said:  “We  pity 
you,  and  are  sorry  for  you.  You  must  not 
expect  any  appreciation  here,  no  matter  how  hard 
you  work.  If  you  are  really  going  to  do  as  you 
have  said  just  now,  you  will  be  disliked  by  every- 
body.” 

I did  not  know  what  they  were  talking 
about,  or  what  their  conversation  referred  to.  I 
thought  this  was  so  strange  that  I had  better  put 
a stop  to  it,  so  I immediately  changed  the  sub- 
ject. I asked  them  who  dressed  their  hair,  and 
who  made  their  shoes  for  them,  as  they  had  asked 
me.  They  answered  my  questions  by  saying 
that  their  maids  did  everything  for  them.  Chun 
Shou  said  to  these  two  girls:  “Tell  her  everything 
about  this  Palace,  and  I am  sure  she  will  change 
her  mind  when  she  actually  sees  things  for  her- 
self.” I didn’t  like  this  Chun  Shou,  and  her  face 
didn’t  impress  me.  She  was  a little  bit  of  a thing, 
tiny  head  with  thin  lips.  When  she  laughed  one 
could  only  hear  the  noise  she  made;  no  expres- 
sion was  on  her  face  at  all.  I was  just  going 
to  say  something  to  them,  so  as  not  to  give  them 
the  opportunity  of  gossipping,  but  found  they 
were  too  cunning.  They  noticed  that  I tried 
every  way  to  stop  them,  so  they  said:  “Now  let 
us  tell  you  everything.  No  one  else  will  know. 
We  like  you  very  much  and  we  want  to  give  you 


98  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 

some  warning,  so  as  to  be  able  to  protect  yourself 
whenever  you  are  in  trouble.”  I told  them  that 
I would  take  great  care  to  do  my  work  and  didn’t 
think  that  I would  ever  get  into  trouble.  They 
laughed  and  said:  “That  makes  no  difference. 
Her  Majesty  will  find  fault.”  I could  not 
believe  these  things  that  they  said,  and  intended  to 
tell  them  that  I refused  to  hear  such  statements, 
but  I thought  I had  better  listen  to  what  they 
had  to  say  first  and  not  to  offend  them,  for  I 
never  believed  in  making  enemies.  I then  told 
them  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  so  sweet  and 
kind-hearted  a person  like  Lao  Tsu  Tsung  (the 
old  ancestor)  to  find  fault  with  such  helpless  girls 
as  we  were,  for  we  were  her  people,  and  she  could 
do  anything  she  liked  with  us.  They  said:  “You 
don’t  know,  and  have  no  idea  how  wicked  this 
place  is ; such  torture  and  suffering  one  could  not 
imagine.  We  are  sure  that  you  think  you  must 
be  happy  to  be  with  the  great  Empress  Dowager, 
and  proud  to  be  her  Court  Lady.  Your  day 
hasn’t  come  yet,  for  you  all  are  new  to  her.  Yes, 
she  is  extremely  kind  to  you  just  now,  but  wait 
until  she  gets  tired  of  you  and  then  see  what  she 
will  do.  We  have  had  enough,  and  know  what 
the  Court  life  is.  Of  course  you  must  have  heard 
that  Li  Lien  Ying  (the  head  eunuch)  rules  this 
Palace  behind  Lao  Tsu  Tsung’s  back.  We  are 
all  afraid  of  him.  lie  pretends  that  he  cannot 


THE  COURT  LADIES 


99 


influence  Lao  Tsu  Tsung,  but  we  always  know 
the  result  after  a long  conversation  consulting 
how  to  punish  anyone.  If  any  of  us  do  anything 
wrong,  we  always  go  to  him  and  beg  him  to  help 
us  out.  Then  he  says  he  has  no  power  to  influ- 
ence Her  Majesty,  and  also  that  he  dare  not  tell 
her  much,  for  she  would  scold  him.  We  hate  all 
the  eunuchs,  they  are  such  bad  people.  We  can 
see  very  plainly  they  are  awfully  polite  to  you 
because  they  can  see  that  you  are  in  favor.  To 
receive  such  rudeness  from  them,  constantly,  as 
we  do,  is  unbearable. 

“Lao  Tsu  Tsung  is  very  changeable.  She 
may  like  one  person  to-day,  to-morrow  she  hates 
this  same  person  worse  than  poison.  She  has 
moods,  and  has  no  appreciation  whatsoever. 
Even  Chu  Tzu,  the  Young  Empress  (Chu  Tzu 
means  Mistress,  that  is  to  say  she  was  mis- 
tress of  us  all,  for  the  Manchus  were  consid- 
ered by  the  sovereign  as  slaves)  is  afraid  of 
Li  Lien  Ying,  and  has  to  be  very  nice  to  him. 
In  fact,  we  all  have  to  be  polite  to  him.”  They 
talked  so  long  that  I thought  they  would  never 
finish.  About  this  time  Wang  came  in  and 
brought  tea  for  us.  Suddenly  I heard  people 
howling  in  the  distance,  so  I asked  Wang  what 
was  the  matter.  The  girls  were  listening  also 
and  a eunuch  came  flying  in  and  told  us  Lao  Fo 
Yeh  chin  la  (The  Great  Buddha  wakes  up). 


100  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


The  girls  got  up  and  said  we  must  all  go  to  see 
her,  so  they  went.  I was  not  at  all  pleased  with 
their  visit,  and  Avished  they  hadn’t  come,  espe- 
cially as  they  told  me  such  horrible  things.  It 
made  me  quite  sad  to  listen  to  the  awful  way  they 
talked  about  Her  Majesty.  I loved  her  the  first 
day  I was  there,  and  made  up  my  mind  to  forget 
everything  they  had  told  me. 

I was  cross  also  because  I didn’t  have  time  to 
change  my  clothes,  and  had  to  go  up  to  Her 
Majesty  at  once.  I went  into  her  bedroom,  and 
found  her  sitting  upon  the  bed  crosslegged,  with 
a small  table  placed  on  the  bed  in  front  of  her. 
She  smiled  and  asked:  “Have  you  had  a good 
rest?  Did  you  sleep  at  all?”  I said  that  I was 
not  sleepy,  and  could  not  sleep  in  the  daytime. 
She  said:  “When  you  are  old  like  me,  you  will 
be  able  to  sleep  at  any  time.  Just  now  you  are 
young,  and  fond  of  play.  I think  you  must  have 
been  on  the  hills  to  gather  flowers,  or  walked  too 
much,  for  you  look  tired.”  I could  only  say 
“Yes.”  The  two  Court  ladies  who  had  just  been 
talking  nonsense  about  Her  Majesty  came  in,  to 
assist  in  handing  her  the  toilet  articles.  I looked 
at  them,  and  felt  ashamed  for  them  to  face  her, 
after  having  said  so  many  disagreeable  things. 
Her  Majesty  washed  her  face  and  combed  her 
hair,  and  a servant  girl  brought  her  fresh  flowers, 
of  white  jasmine  and  roses.  Her  Majesty  stuck 


THE  COURT  LADIES 


101 


them  in  her  hair  and  said  to  me:  “I  am  always 
fond  of  fresh  flowers — better  than  jade  and 
pearls.  I love  to  see  the  little  plants  grow,  and 
I water  them  myself.  I have  been  so  busy  ever 
since  you  came  that  I haven’t  been  able  to  visit 
my  plants.  Tell  them  to  get  the  dinner  ready 
and  I will  take  a walk  afterwards.”  I came  out 
of  her  room  and  gave  the  eunuch  the  order.  As 
usual  we  brought  little  dainties  to  her.  By  this 
time  Her  Majesty  was  dressed  and  was  sitting  in 
the  large  hall,  playing  solitaire  with  her  domi- 
noes. The  eunuch  laid  the  tables  as  usual,  and 
Her  Majesty  stopped  play,  and  commenced  to 
eat.  She  asked  me:  “How  do  you  like  this  kind 
of  life?”  I told  her  that  I very  much  enjoyed 
being  with  her.  She  said:  “What  kind  of  a 
place  is  this  wonderful  Paris  I have  heard  so 
much  about?  Did  you  enjoy  yourself  while  you 
were  there,  and  do  you  wish  to  go  back  again? 
It  must  be  hard  for  you  people  to  leave  China 
for  three  or  four  years,  and  I suppose  you  were 
all  pleased  when  you  received  the  order  to  come 
back,  after  your  father’s  term  was  finished.” 
The  only  thing  I could  say  was  “Yes,”  be- 
cause it  wouldn’t  be  nice  to  tell  her  that  I was 
awfully  sorry  to  leave  Paris.  She  said:  “I 
think  we  have  everything  in  China,  only  the 
life  is  different.  What  is  dancing?  Some- 
one told  me  that  two  people  hold  hands  and 


102  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


jump  all  over  the  room.  If  that  is  the  case  I 
don’t  see  any  pleasure  in  it  at  all.  Do  you  have 
to  j ump  up  and  down  with  men  ? They  told  me 
that  old  women,  with  white  hair,  dance,  too.”  T 
explained  to  her  about  the  balls  given  by  the 
President,  and  all  the  private  dances,  and  also 
all  about  the  masquerade  balls,  etc.  Her 
Majesty  said:  “I  don’t  like  this  masquerade  ball 
because  you  don’t  know  whom  you  are  dancing 
with  if  they  are  wearing  a mask.”  I explained 
to  her  how  carefully  the  people  issued  their  invi- 
tations, and  that  anyone  who  behaved  badly  could 
never  enter  into  high  society.  Her  Ma j esty  said : 
“I  would  like  to  see  how  you  jump,  can  you 
show  me  a little?”  I went  in  search  of  my  sister, 
and  found  her  busy  talking  to  the  Young 
Empress.  I told  her  that  Her  Majesty  wished 
to  see  how  people  dance,  and  that  we  must  show 
her.  The  Young  Empress  and  all  the  Court 
ladies  heard  this,  and  all  said  that  they  also  wished 
to  see.  My  sister  said  that  she  had  noticed  a 
large  gramophone  in  Her  Majesty’s  bedroom, 
and  that  perhaps  we  could  find  some  music.  I 
thought  that  was  a good  idea,  and  went  to  ask 
her  for  the  gramophone.  She  said:  “Oh,  must 
you  jump  with  music?”  I almost  laughed  when 
she  said  that,  and  told  her  it  was  much  nicer 
with  music,  as  otherwise  one  could  not  keep  in 
time.  She  ordered  the  eunuchs  to  have  the 


THE  COURT  LADIES 


103 


gramophone  brought  to  the  hall,  and  said:  “You 
jump  while  I take  my  dinner.”  We  looked  over 
a lot  of  records,  but  they  were  all  Chinese  songs, 
but  at  last  we  found  a waltz,  so  we  started  to 
dance.  We  could  see  that  a lot  of  people  were 
looking  at  us,  who  perhaps  thought  that  we  were 
crazy.  When  we  had  finished  we  found  Her 
Majesty  laughing  at  us.  She  said:  “I  could 
never  do  that.  Are  you  not  dizzy  turning  round 
and  round?  I suppose  your  legs  must  be  very 
tired  also.  It  is  very  pretty,  and  just  like  the 
girls  used  to  do  centuries  ago  in  China.  I know 
that  it  is  difficult  and  one  ought  to  have  any 
amount  of  grace  to  do  it,  but  I don’t  think 
it  would  look  nice  to  see  a man  dancing  with  a 
girl  like  that.  I object  to  the  hand  around  the 
girl’s  waist ; I like  to  see  the  girls  dance  together. 
It  would  never  do  for  China  for  a girl  to  get 
too  close  to  a man.  I know  the  foreigners  don’t 
seem  to  think  about  that  at  all.  It  shows  that 
they  are  broader  minded  than  us.  Is  it  true  that 
the  foreigners  don’t  respect  their  parents  at  all — 
that  they  could  beat  their  parents  and  drive  them 
out  of  the  house?”  I told  her  that  it  was  not 
so,  and  that  someone  had  given  her  wrong  ideas 
about  foreigners.  Then  she  said:  “I  know  that 
perhaps  sometimes  one  among  the  commonest 
class  do  that,  and  that  people  are  apt  to  take  it 
wrong,  and  conclude  that  all  foreigners  treat 


104*  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


their  parents  that  way.  Now  I see  just  the  same 
thing  done  by  the  common  people  in  China.”  I 
wondered  who  had  told  her  such  nonsense  and 
made  her  believe  it. 

After  we  had  taken  our  dinner  it  was  just  half- 
past five,  and  Her  Majesty  said  she  would  take 
a walk  along  the  long  veranda,  so  w’e  followed 
her.  She  showed  me  her  flowers,  and  said  that 
she  had  planted  them  herself.  Whenever  Her 
Majesty  went  anywhere  there  was  always  a lot 
of  attendants  following  her,  exactly  the  same  as 
when  she  went  to  the  morning  audiences.  When 
we  reached  the  end  of  this  long  veranda,  which 
took  us  a quarter  of  an  hour  to  walk,  Her 
Majesty  ordered  her  stool  to  be  brought  into 
one  of  the  summer  houses.  These  summer 
houses  were  built  of  nothing  but  bamboo,  all  the 
furniture  being  made  of  different  shaped  bam- 
boo. Her  Majesty  sat  down,  and  one  of  the 
eunuchs  brought  tea  and  honeysuckle  flowers. 
She  ordered  the  eunuchs  to  give  us  tea  also.  Her 
Majesty  said:  “This  is  my  simple  way  of  enjoy- 
ing life.  I love  to  see  the  country  scenery. 
There  are  a great  many  pretty  places  which  I 
will  show  you  and  I am  sure  that  after  you  have 
seen  them  you  will  not  like  foreign  countries 
any  more.  There  is  no  scenery  in  the  world 
which  can  beat  the  Chinese.  Some  returned 
[Ministers  from  abroad  said  to  me  that  the  trees 


THE  COURT  LADIES 


105 


and  mountains  in  foreign  countries  looked  ugly 
and  savage.  Is  that  true?”  I concluded  right 
away  that  someone  had  wished  to  please  her  by 
saying  things  about  foreigners,  so  I told  her  that 
I had  been  in  almost  every  country,  and  had 
found  lovely  scenery,  but  of  course  it  was  dif- 
ferent from  China.  While  we  were  talking  Her 
Majesty  said  that  she  felt  chilly  and  asked: 
“Are  you  cold?  You  see  you  have  your  own 
eunuchs,  they  are  all  standing  around,  and  have 
nothing  to  do.  Next  time  tell  them  to  carry 
your  wraps  along  with  you.  I think  that  for- 
eign clothes  must  be  quite  uncomfortable — either 
too  warm  or  too  cold.  I don’t  see  how  you  can 
eat,  having  your  wTaist  squeezed  that  way.”  Her 
Majesty  got  up  and  we  all  went  on  walking 
slowly  towards  her  own  Palace.  She  sat  down 
on  her  favorite  little  throne  in  the  hall  and 
started  to  play  solitaire.  We  came  out  on  the 
veranda,  and  the  Young  Empress  said  to  us: 
“You  must  be  tired,  for  I know  you  are  not  used 
to  doing  such  hard  work  all  day  long  without 
stopping.  You  had  better  wear  Manchu  clothes, 
because  they  are  comfortable  and  easy  to  work 
in.  Look  at  your  long  train;  you  have  to  take 
it  up  in  your  hands  while  walking.” 

I told  her  that  I would  be  only  too  pleased  to 
change  the  clothes,  but  that  not  having  received 
an  order  from  Her  Majesty  I could  not  make 


106  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


any  suggestions.  The  Young  Empress  said: 
“No,  don’t  ask  anything,  and  I am  sure  Her 
Majesty  will  tell  you  to  change  by  and  by.  Just 
now  she  wishes  to  see  your  Paris  gowns,  because 
she  wants  to  know  how  foreign  ladies  dress  on 
different  occasions.  She  thought  that  some  of 
the  ladies  came  to  the  Garden  Party  dressed  in 
woolen  clothes.  We  thought  that  foreign  ladies 
were  not  so  extravagant  as  we  are  until  we  met 
Mdme.  Planc^on  the  other  day.  Do  you  remem- 
ber what  Her  Majesty  said  to  you?  ‘That 
Mdme.  Plancon  was  so  different  from  many  la- 
dies she  had  met,  and  also  dressed  differently.’  ” 
It  was  a chiffon  dress,  with  hand  paintings,  which 
Mdme.  Plancon  wore,  which  pleased  Her  Maj- 
esty very  much.  While  I was  talking  with  the 
Young  Empress  all  the  electric  lights  turned  up, 
so  I went  to  Her  Majesty  to  see  if  she  needed 
anything.  She  said:  “Let  us  play  a game  of 
dice  before  I go  to  bed.”  We  began  to  play  the 
same  thing  as  we  had  done  in  the  afternoon. 
Her  Majesty  won  another  game,  this  time  it  took 
only  an  hour  to  finish  the  game.  Her  Majesty 
said  to  me:  “Why  can’t  you  win  once?”  I knew 
she  wanted  to  tease,  so  I said  that  my  luck  was 
bad.  She  laughed  and  said:  “To-morrow  you 
try  to  put  your  stocking  on  wrong  side  out ; that 
is  a sure  sign  of  winning.”  I told  her  that  I 
would,  and  I knew  that  pleased  her.  During  the 


THE  COURT  LADIES 


107 


short  time  I was  there  I kept  studying  her  most 
of  the  while.  I could  see  nothing  would  make 
her  happier  than  for  me  to  obey  her  orders. 
Her  Majesty  said  that  she  felt  tired,  and  that 
we  must  bring  her  milk.  She  said  to  me:  “I 
want  you  to  bum  incense  sticks  and  bow  to  the 
ground  every  night  to  the  Buddha  in  the  next 
room  before  I go  to  bed.  I hope  you  are  not 
a Christian,  for  if  you  are  I can  never  feel  as 
if  you  are  mine  at  all.  Do  tell  me  that  you  are 
not.”  I did  not  expect  that  question  at  all,  and 
I must  say  that  it  was  a very  difficult  question 
to  answer.  F or  my  own  protection  I had  to  say 
that  I had  nothing  to  do  with  the  Christians.  I 
felt  guilty  at  having  deceived  her  that  way,  but 
it  was  absolutely  necessary,  and  there  was  no 
other  way  out  of  it.  I knew  that  I had  to 
answer  her  question  at  once,  because  it  would 
never  do  for  her  to  see  any  hesitation,  which 
would  arouse  her  suspicions.  Although  my  face 
showed  nothing,  my  heart  stopped  beating  for  a 
while.  I felt  ashamed  to  have  fooled  her.  The 
earliest  training  I had  was  never  to  be  ashamed 
to  tell  the  truth.  When  Her  Majesty  heard  me 
say  that  I was  not  a Christian,  she  smiled  and 
said:  “I  admire  you;  although  you  have  had  so 
much  to  do  with  foreigners,  yet  you  did  not  adopt 
their  religion.  On  the  contrary,  you  still  keep 
to  your  own.  Be  strong  and  keep  it  as  long 


108  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


as  you  live.  You  have  no  idea  how  glad  I am 
now,  for  I suspected  you  must  believe  in  the 
foreign  God.  Even  if  you  don’t  want  to,  they 
can  make  you  believe  it.  Now  I am  ready  for 
bed.” 

We  helped  her  to  undress,  and  I,  as  usual,  put 
away  her  jewels,  and  noticed  she  wore  only  one 
pair  of  jade  bracelets  to  sleep.  She  changed 
into  her  bed  clothes  and  lay  down  between  the 
silk  covers  and  said  to  us:  “You  can  go  now.” 
We  courtesied  to  her  and  withdrew  from  her 
bedroom.  Out  in  the  hall  there  was  on  the  cold 
stone  floor  six  eunuchs.  They  were  the  watch- 
men and  must  not  sleep  at  all  during  the  night. 
In  her  bedroom  were  two  eunuchs,  two  servant 
girls,  two  old  women  servants  and  sometimes  two 
Court  ladies.  These  people  also  must  not  sleep. 
The  two  girls  massaged  her  legs  every  night,  and 
the  two  women  were  there  to  watch  the  girls,  the 
two  eunuchs  to  watch  the  two  old  women,  and 
the  two  Court  ladies  to  watch  them  all,  in  case 
they  did  any  mischief.  They  all  took  turns,  and 
that  was  the  reason  why  sometimes  two  Court 
ladies  must  sit  overnight  when  it  happened  that 
the  eunuchs  were  not  reliable.  Her  Majesty 
trusted  the  Court  ladies  the  most.  I was  never 
more  surprised  in  my  life  than  when  one  of  these 
six  eunuchs  told  me  in  the  hall,  for  I had  asked 
what  they  were  all  doing  there. 


THE  COURT  LADIES 


109 


Later  on  one  of  the  Court  ladies  said  to  me 
that  it  was  customary  for  them  to  take  turns  to 
attend  at  Her  Majesty’s  bedchamber  in  the 
morning  to  wake  her  up,  and  that  I should  take 
my  turn  the  next  morning  and  my  sister  the  fol- 
lowing morning.  While  saying  this  she  smiled  in 
a most  peculiar  way.  I did  not  understand  at 
the  time,  but  found  out  later.  I asked  her  what 
I should  do  to  wake  Her  Majesty,  and  she  said: 
“There  is  no  particular  way,  you  will  have  to 
use  your  own  judgment;  but  be  careful  not  to 
make  her  angry.  It  was  my  turn  this  morning. 
I knew  that  she  was  very  tired,  having  had  a very 
trying  time  the  day  before,  so  I had  to  make  a 
little  more  noise  than  usual  when  waking  her. 
She  was  very  angry  and  scolded  me  dreadfully 
when  she  arose,  as  it  was  rather  late.  This  very 
often  happens  when  Her  Majesty  gets  up  late, 
as  she  always  says  that  we  do  not  make  enough 
noise  to  wake  her.  However,  I don’t  think  she 
will  do  this  to  you,  just  now,  as  you  are  new 
here;  but  wait  until  you  have  been  here  a few 
months.”  What  this  Court  lady  said  to  me  wor- 
ried me  quite  considerably ; but  from  what  I had 
seen  of  Her  Majesty  so  far,  I could  not  believe 
that  she  would  be  angry  with  anyone  who  was 
doing  her  duty  properly. 


CHAPTER  NINE 


THE  EMPEROR  KWANG  HSU 

The  next  dajr  I arose  earlier  than  usual  and 
dressed  in  a great  hurry,  as  I feared  I might  be 
late.  When  I got  to  Her  Majesty’s  Palace 
there  were  a few  Court  ladies  there  sitting  on 
the  veranda.  They  smiled  and  asked  me  to  sit 
down  with  them  as  it  was  still  too  early,  being 
only  five  o’clock.  I had  been  told  to  wake  Her 
Majesty  at  five  thirty.  The  Young  Empress 
came  up  a few  minutes  later  and  we  all  courtesied 
and  wished  her  “good  morning.”  After  talking 
with  us  a few  minutes,  she  asked  if  Her  Majesty 
was  awake  and  which  one  of  us  was  on  duty  that 
day.  When  I informed  her  that  it  was  my  turn, 
she  immediately  ordered  me  to  go  to  Her 
Majesty’s  room  at  once.  I went  very  quietly 
and  found  some  servant  girls  standing  about  and 
one  Court  lady,  who  was  sitting  on  the  floor. 
She  had  been  on  duty  all  night.  When  she  saw 
me  she  got  up  and  whispered  to  me,  that  now  that 
I had  come,  she  would  go  and  change  her  clothes 
and  brush  up  a bit,  and  for  me  not  to  leave  the 
room  until  Her  Majesty  was  awake.  After  this 

110 


THE  EMPEROR  KWANG  HSU 


111 


Court  lady  had  gone,  I went  near  to  the  bed  and 
said:  “Lao  Tsu  Tsung,  it  is  half -past  five.”  She 
was  sleeping  with  her  face  toward  the  wall,  and 
without  looking  to  see  who  had  called  her,  she 
said:  “Go  away  and  leave  me  alone.  I did  not 
tell  you  to  call  me  at  half-past  five.  Call  me  at 
six,”  and  immediately  went  off  to  sleep  again. 
I waited  until  six  and  called  her  again.  She  woke 
and  said:  “This  is  dreadful.  What  a nuisance 
you  are.”  After  she  had  said  this,  she  looked 
around  and  saw  me  standing  by  the  bed.  “Oh! 
it  is  you,  is  it?  Who  told  you  to  come  and  wake 
me?”  I replied:  “One  of  the  Court  ladies  told 
me  that  it  was  my  turn  to  be  on  duty  in  Lao  Tsu 
Tsung’s  bedchamber.”  “That  is  funny.  How 
dare  they  give  orders  without  receiving  instruc- 
tions from  me  first?  They  know  that  this  part 
of  their  duty  is  not  very  pleasant  and  have  put 
it  off  on  you  because  they  know  you  are  new 
here.”  I made  no  reply  to  this.  I got  along  as 
best  I could  that  day  and  found  it  no  easy  mat- 
ter, as  Her  Majesty  was  very  exacting  in  every- 
thing. However,  the  next  time  I managed  to 
divert  her  attention  to  things  new  or  interesting 
in  order  to  take  her  mind  off  of  what  she  was 
doing,  and  in  this  way  had  much  less  trouble 
getting  her  out  of  bed. 

My  reader  can’t  imagine  how  very  glad  we 
were  to  get  back  to  our  rooms,  and  it  was  just 


112  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


10:30  p.  M.  I was  very  tired  and  sleepy,  so  I 
undressed  and  went  to  bed  at  once.  I think  that 
as  soon  as  my  head  touched  the  pillow  I was 
asleep. 

The  following  day  there  was  the  same  thing, 
the  usual  audience  in  the  morning,  of  course  busy 
all  the  tune,  which  went  on  for  fifteen  days 
before  I realized  it.  I began  to  take  great  inter- 
est in  the  Court  life,  and  liked  it  better  every 
day.  Her  Majesty  was  very  sweet  and  kind  to 
us  always,  and  took  us  to  see  the  different  places 
in  the  Summer  Palace.  We  went  to  see  Her 
Majesty’s  farm,  situated  on  the  west  side  of  the 
lake,  and  had  to  cross  over  a high  bridge  to  get 
there.  This  bridge  is  called  Tu  Tai  Chiao 
(Jade  Girdle  Bridge).  Her  Majesty  often 
took  us  under  this  bridge  in  a boat,  or  we  walked 
round  on  the  border.  She  seemed  very  fond  of 
sitting  on  the  top  of  this  bridge  on  her  stool  and 
taking  her  tea,  in  fact  this  was  one  of  her  favor- 
ite places.  She  used  to  go  and  see  her  farm  once 
every  four  or  five  days,  and  it  always  pleased 
her  if  she  could  take  some  vegetables  and  rice  or 
corn  from  her  own  farm.  She  cooked  these 
things  herself  in  one  of  the  courtyards.  I 
thought  that  was  good  fun,  and  also  turned  up 
my  sleeves  to  help  her  cook.  We  brought  fresh 
eggs  also  from  the  farm  and  Her  Majesty  taught 
us  how  to  cook  them  with  black  tea  leaves. 


THE  EMPEROR  KWANG  HSU 


113 


Her  Majesty’s  cooking  stoves  were  very  pecu- 
liar. They  were  made  of  brass,  lined  with 
bricks.  They  could  be  moved  anywhere,  for 
they  had  no  chimneys.  Her  Majesty  told  me 
to  boil  the  eggs  first  until  they  were  hard,  and 
to  crack  them  but  to  keep  the  shells  on,  and  add 
half  a cup  of  black  tea,  salt  and  spices.  Her 
Majesty  said:  “I  like  the  country  life.  It  seems 
more  natural  than  the  Court  life.  I am  always 
glad  to  see  young  people  having  fun,  and  not 
such  grand  dames  when  we  are  by  ourselves. 
Although  I am  not  young  any  more,  I am  still 
very  fond  of  play.”  Her  Majesty  would  taste 
first  what  we  had  been  cooking,  and  would  give 
us  all  to  taste.  She  asked:  “Do  you  not  think 
this  food  has  more  flavor  than  that  prepared  by 
the  cooks?”  We  all  said  it  was  fine.  So  we 
spent  the  long  days  at  the  Court  having  good 
fun. 

I saw  Emperor  Ivwang  Hsu  every  morning, 
and  whenever  I had  the  time  he  would  always 
ask  some  words  in  English.  I was  surprised  to 
learn  that  he  knew  quite  a bit  of  spelling,  too.  I 
found  him  extremely  interesting.  He  had  very 
expressive  eyes.  He  was  entirely  a different 
person  when  he  wTas  alone  with  us.  He  would 
laugh  and  tease,  but  as  soon  as  he  was  in  the  pres- 
ence of  Her  Majesty  he  would  look  serious,  and 
as  if  he  were  worried  to  death.  At  times  he 


114  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


looked  stupid.  I was  told  by  a great  many  peo- 
ple who  were  presented  to  him  at  the  different 
audiences  that  he  did  not  look  intelligent,  and 
that  he  would  never  talk.  I knew  better,  for 
I used  to  see  him  every  day.  I was  at  the  Court 
long  enough  to  study  him,  and  found  him  to  be 
one  of  the  most  intelligent  men  in  China.  He 
was  a capital  diplomat  and  had  wonderful  brains, 
only  he  had  no  opportunities.  Now  a great 
many  people  have  asked  me  the  same  question, 
if  our  Emperor  Ivwang  Hsu  had  any  courage 
or  brains.  Of  course  outsiders  have  no  idea  how 
strict  the  law  is,  and  the  way  we  have  to  respect 
our  parents.  He  was  compelled  to  give  up  a 
great  many  things  on  account  of  the  law.  I have 
had  many  long  talks  with  him  and  found  him  a 
wise  man,  with  any  amount  of  patience.  His  life 
was  not  a happy  one ; ever  since  his  childhood  his 
health  was  poor.  He  told  me  that  he  never  had 
studied  literature  very  much,  but  it  came  natural 
to  him.  He  was  a bom  musician  and  could  play 
any  instrument  without  studying.  He  loved  the 
piano,  and  was  always  after  me  to  teach  him. 
There  were  several  beautiful  grand  pianos  at  the 
Audience  Hall.  He  had  very  good  taste  for 
foreign  music,  too.  I taught  him  some  easy 
waltzes  and  he  kept  the  time  beautifully.  I 
found  him  a good  companion  and  a good  friend, 
and  he  confided  in  me  and  told  me  his  troubles 


THE  EMPEROR  KWANG  HSU 


115 


and  sorrows.  We  talked  a great  deal  about 
western  civilization,  and  I was  surprised  to  learn 
he  was  so  well  informed  in  everything.  He  used 
to  tell  me,  time  after  time,  his  ambitions  for  the 
welfare  of  his  country.  He  loved  his  people  and 
would  have  done  anything  to  help  them  when- 
ever there  was  famine  or  flood.  I noticed  that  he 
felt  for  them.  I know  that  some  eunuchs  gave 
false  reports  about  his  character, — that  he  was 
cruel,  etc.  I had  heard  the  same  thing  before  I 
went  to  the  Palace.  He  was  kind  to  the  eunuchs, 
but  there  was  always  that  distinction  between  the 
master  and  the  servants.  He  would  never  allow 
the  eunuchs  to  speak  to  him  unless  they  were 
spoken  to,  and  never  listened  to  any  kind  of 
gossip.  I lived  there  long  enough,  and  I know 
just  what  kind  of  cruel  people  those  eunuchs 
were.  They  had  no  respect  for  their  master. 
They  came  from  the  lowest  class  of  people  from 
the  country,  had  no  education,  no  morals,  no  feel- 
ing for  anything,  not  even  between  themselves. 
The  outside  world  has  heard  so  many  things 
against  His  Majesty,  the  Emperor  Kwang 
Hsu’s  character,  but  I assure  my  readers  that 
these  things  were  told  by  the  eunuchs  to  their 
families,  and  of  course  they  always  stretched  it 
out  as  far  as  possible  in  order  to  make  the  con- 
versation interesting.  The  majority  of  the  peo- 
ple living  in  Peking  get  all  kinds  of  information 


116  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


through  them.  I have  witnessed  the  same  thing 
many  a time  during  my  stay  at  the  Palace. 

One  day  during  the  time  of  Her  Majesty’s 
afternoon  rest  we  heard  a dreadful  noise.  It 
sounded  just  like  the  firing  off  of  fire-crackers. 
Such  a noise  was  quite  unusual  in  the  Palace  for 
such  things  are  not  allowed  to  be  brought  into 
the  Palace  grounds.  Of  course  Her  Majesty 
woke  up.  In  a few  seconds  time  everyone  be- 
came excited  and  were  running  to  and  fro  as  if 
the  building  was  on  fire.  Her  Majesty  was  giv- 
ing orders  and  telling  the  eunuchs  to  be  quiet, 
but  no  one  listened  to  her  and  kept  yelling  and 
running  around  like  crazy  people,  all  talking  at 
the  same  time.  Her  Majesty  was  furious  and 
ordered  us  to  bring  the  yellow  bag  to  her.  (I 
must  explain  about  this  bag.  It  was  made  of 
ordinary  yellow  cloth  and  contained  bamboo 
sticks  of  all  sorts  and  sizes  and  are  made  to  beat 
the  eunuchs,  servant  girls  and  old  women  serv- 
ants with.)  This  bag  was  carried  everywhere 
Her  Majesty  went,  to  be  handy  in  case  of  emer- 
gency. Everyone  of  us  knew  where  this  bag 
was  kept.  We  took  all  the  sticks  from  the  bag 
and  Her  Majesty  ordered  us  to  go  to  the  court- 
yard and  beat  the  eunuchs.  It  was  such  a funny 
sight  to  see  all  the  Court  ladies  and  servant  girls 
each  with  a stick  trying  to  separate  the  excited 
crowd.  On  my  part  I thought  I was  having 


THE  EMPEROR  KWANG  HSU 


117 


good  fun  so  I laughed  and  found  the  rest  were 
laughing  too.  Her  Majesty  was  standing  on  the 
veranda  watching  us  but  she  was  too  far  away 
to  see  well  and  with  all  that  noise,  we  knew  she 
could  not  hear  us  laughing.  We  tried  our  best 
to  separate  the  crowd,  but  were  laughing  so  much 
we  did  not  have  enough  strength  to  hurt  any  of 
them.  All  of  a sudden  all  the  eunuchs  became 
quiet  and  stopped  talking,  for  one  of  them  saw 
the  head  eunuch,  Li  Lien  Ying,  followed  by  all 
his  attendants  coming  towards  them.  Everyone 
of  them  became  frightened  and  stood  there  like 
statues.  We  stopped  laughing,  too,  and  turned 
back  each  with  a stick  in  our  hand,  walking  to- 
ward Her  Majesty.  Li  Lien  Ying  was  having 
a nap,  too,  and  had  heard  the  noise  and  had  come 
to  enquire  what  the  trouble  was  and  to  report  it 
to  Her  Majesty.  It  seemed  one  of  the  young 
eunuchs  caught  a crow.  (The  eunuchs  hated 
crows,  as  they  are  considered  an  unlucky  bird. 
The  people  in  China  called  eunuchs  crows  be- 
cause they  were  very  disagreeable.  That  was  the 
reason  why  the  eunuchs  hated  them  so.)  They 
always  set  traps  to  catch  them  and  then  tied  a 
huge  fire-cracker  to  their  legs,  set  fire  to  the 
cracker  and  then  set  the  unfortunate  birds  free. 
Naturally  the  poor  birds  would  be  glad  to  fly 
away  and  by  the  time  the  powder  exploded 
would  be  high  up  in  the  air  and  the  poor  bird 


118  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


would  be  blown  to  pieces.  It  seemed  this  was 
not  the  first  time  the  eunuchs  had  played  this 
cruel  trick.  I was  told  it  always  delighted  them 
so  much  to  see  blood  and  torture.  They  always 
invited  others  to  drink  some  wine  with  them  to 
celebrate  an  occasion  such  as  this.  This  cruel 
deed  was  always  done  outside  of  the  wall  of  the 
Audience  Hall  but  that  day  the  crow  flew  to- 
wards Her  Majesty’s  own  Palace  while  she  was 
sleeping  and  the  powder  exploded  while  the  bird 
was  passing  the  courtyard.  After  the  head 
eunuch  had  told  Her  Majesty  what  had  hap- 
pened, she  was  very  angry  and  ordered  that  this 
young  eunuch  be  brought  in  and  receive  punish- 
ment in  her  presence.  I noticed  one  of  the  head 
eunuch’s  attendants  push  the  culprit  out  from 
the  crowd.  The  head  eunuch  immediately  gave 
orders  to  lay  this  man  on  the  ground  and  two 
eunuchs  stood  on  each  side  of  him  and  beat  him 
on  his  legs  with  two  heavy  bamboo  sticks  one  at 
a time.  The  victim  never  uttered  a word  while 
this  was  going  on.  The  head  eunuch  counted 
until  this  man  had  received  one  hundred  blows, 
then  he  gave  orders  to  stop.  Then  he  knelt  in 
front  of  Her  Majesty  waiting  for  her  orders  and 
at  the  same  time  kowtowed  on  the  ground  until 
his  head  made  a noise  on  the  stone  steps,  asking 
to  be  punished  for  his  carelessness  and  neglect  of 
duty.  Her  Majesty  said  that  it  was  not  his 


THE  EMPEROR  KWANG  HSU 


119 


fault  and  ordered  him  to  take  the  offender  away. 
During  all  this  time  the  offender  was  still  on  the 
ground,  and  did  not  dare  to  move.  Two  eunuchs 
each  took  hold  of  a foot  and  dragged  him  out  of 
the  courtyard.  We  were  all  afraid  even  to 
breathe  aloud  for  fear  Her  Majesty  would  say 
that  we  were  pretending  to  be  frightened  at  wit- 
nessing this  punishment,  at  the  same  time  when 
it  was  over  we  would  go  and  gossip  about  how 
cruel  she  was.  No  one  was  surprised  at  what 
had  happened,  as  we  were  accustomed  to  seeing 
it  almost  every  day  and  were  quite  used  to  it. 
I used  to  pity  them,  but  I changed  my  mind  very 
soon  after  I had  arrived. 

The  first  person  I saw  punished  was  a servant 
girl,  she  had  made  a mistake  about  Her  Maj- 
esty’s socks  and  had  brought  two  which  were  not 
mates,  Her  Majesty  finding  that  out,  ordered 
another  servant  girl  to  slap  her  face  ten  times 
on  each  cheek.  This  girl  did  not  slap  hard 
enough,  so  Her  Majesty  said  they  were  all  good 
friends  and  would  not  obey  her  orders,  so  she 
told  the  one  who  had  been  slapped  to  slap  the 
other.  I thought  that  was  too  funny  for  any- 
thing and  wanted  to  laugh  the  worst  way,  but  of 
course  did  not  dare.  That  night  I asked  those 
two  girls  how  they  felt  slapping  each  other  that 
way.  The  reason  why  I asked  them  was  be- 
cause they  were  laughing  and  joking  as  usual 


120  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


immediately  they  were  out  of  Her  Majesty’s 
bedchamber.  They  told  me  that  was  nothing; 
that  they  were  quite  used  to  it  and  never  bothered 
themselves  about  such  small  things.  I in  turn 
soon  became  used  to  it,  and  was  as  callous  as  they 
were. 

Now  regarding  the  servant  girls,  they  are  a 
much  better  class  of  people  than  the  eunuchs. 
They  are  the  daughters  of  Mancliu  soldiers,  and 
must  stay  ten  years  at  the  Palace  to  wait  upon 
Her  Majesty,  and  then  they  are  free  to  marry. 
One  got  married  after  my  first  month  at  the 
Court.  Her  Majesty  gave  her  a small  sum  of 
money,  five  hundred  taels.  This  girl  was  so 
attached  to  Her  Majesty  that  it  was  very  hard 
for  her  to  leave  the  Court.  She  was  an  ex- 
tremely clever  girl.  Her  name  was  Chiu  Yuen 
(Autumn’s  Cloud).  Her  Majesty  named  her 
that  because  she  was  so  very  delicate  looking  and 
slight.  I liked  her  very  much  during  the  short 
time  that  we  were  together.  She  told  me  not  to 
listen  to  anyone’s  gossip  at  the  Court,  also  that 
Her  Majesty  had  told  her  she  was  very  fond 
of  me.  On  the  twenty-second  day  of  the  third 
moon  she  left  the  Palace,  and  we  were  all  sorry 
to  lose  her.  Her  Majesty  did  not  realize  how 
much  she  missed  her  until  after  she  had  gone. 
For  a few  days  we  had  nothing  but  troubles.  It 
seemed  as  if  everything  went  ’wrong.  Her 


THE  EMPEROR  ICWANG  HSU 


121 


Majesty  was  not  at  all  satisfied  without  Chiu 
Yuen.  The  rest  of  the  servant  girls  were  scared, 
and  tried  their  best  to  please  Her  Majesty,  but 
they  had  not  the  ability,  so  we  had  to  help  and 
do  a part  of  their  work  so  as  not  to  make  Her 
Majesty  nervous.  Unfortunately,  she  stopped 
us,  and  said:  “You  have  enough  to  do  of  your 
own  work,  and  I do  not  want  you  to  help  the 
servants.  You  don’t  please  me  a bit  that  way.” 
She  could  see  that  I was  not  accustomed  to  her 
ways,  for  she  had  spoken  severely,  so  she  smiled 
and  said  to  me:  “I  know  you  are  good  to  help 
them  so  as  not  to  make  me  angry,  but  these 
servants  are  veiy  cunning.  It  isn’t  that  they 
cannot  do  their  work.  They  know  very  well 
that  I always  select  the  clever  ones  to  wait  on 
me  in  my  bedroom  and  they  don’t  like  that,  so 
they  pretend  to  be  stupid  and  make  me  angry  so 
that  I will  send  them  to  do  the  common  work. 
The  eunuchs  are  worse.  They  are  all  afraid  to 
take  Chiu  Yuen’s  place.  Now  I have  found 
them  out,  and  I will  only  keep  the  stupid  ones 
to  wait  on  me  from  now.”  I almost  laughed 
when  I noticed  that  they  all  looked  serious  for 
a moment.  I thought  these  people  must  be  really 
stupid,  and  not  lazy,  but  I had  dealings  with 
them  every  day  and  found  them  out  all  right. 
The  eunuchs  don’t  seem  to  have  any  brains  at 
all.  They  are  such  queer  people  and  have  no 


122  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


feelings.  They  have  the  same  mood  all  day 
long — I should  say  they  are  in  a cruel  mood. 
Whenever  Her  Majesty  gave  an  order  they 
always  said  “Jer”  (Yes)  and  as  soon  as  they 
got  to  our  waitingroom  they  would  say  to  each 
other:  “What  wras  the  order?  I have  forgotten 
all  about  it.”  Then  they  used  to  come  to  one  of 
us  who  had  happened  to  be  present  when 
the  order  was  given:  “Please  tell  us  what  the 
order  was.  I did  not  listen  while  Her  Majesty 
was  talking.”  We  used  to  laugh  and  make  fun 
of  them.  We  knew  they  were  afraid  to  ask  Her 
Majesty,  and  of  course  we  had  to  tell  them. 
One  of  the  eunuch  writers  had  to  keep  writing 
down  the  orders  that  had  been  given  during  the 
day,  for  Her  Majesty  wanted  to  keep  records 
of  everything.  There  were  twenty  eunuchs  who 
were  educated  and  they  were  excellent  scholars. 
These  had  to  answer  any  questions  which  Her 
Majesty  happened  to  ask  them  about  Chinese 
literature,  while  she  had  a good  knowledge  of 
it  herself.  I noticed  that  it  pleased  her  a great 
deal  if  anyone  could  not  answer  a question,  or 
knew  less  than  she  did.  She  took  delight  in 
laughing  at  them.  Her  Majesty  was  also  very 
fond  of  teasing.  She  knew  that  the  Court  ladies 
did  not  know  very  much  about  literature,  so  she 
used  to  try  it  on  us.  We  had  to  say  something 
whether  it  was  appropriate  to  her  questions  or 


THE  EMPEROR  KWANG  HSU 


123 


not,  and  that  would  make  her  laugh.  I was  told 
that  Her  Majesty  did  not  like  anyone  to  be  too 
clever,  and  yet  she  could  not  bear  stupid  people, 
so  I was  rather  nervous,  and  did  not  know  how 
to  act  for  the  first  three  weeks  I was  there,  but 
it  did  not  take  me  very  long  to  study  her.  She 
certainly  admired  clever  girls,  but  she  did  not 
like  those  who  would  show  their  cleverness  too 
much.  How  I won  her  heart  was  this  way. 
Whenever  I was  with  her  I used  to  fix  my  whole 
attention  on  her  and  watched  her  very  closely 
(not  staring,  for  she  hated  that)  and  always  car- 
ried out  her  orders  properly.  I noticed  another 
thing,  and  that  was  that  whenever  she  wanted 
anything  to  be  brought  to  her,  such  as  ciga- 
rettes, handkerchief,  etc.,  she  would  only  look  at 
the  article  and  then  look  at  anyone  who  hap- 
pened to  be  there  at  the  time.  (There  was  al- 
ways a table  in  the  room,  on  which  everything 
she  needed  for  the  day  was  placed.)  I got  so 
used  to  her  habits  that  after  a short  time  I knew 
just  what  she  wanted  by  looking  at  her  eyes,  and 
I was  very  seldom  mistaken.  This  pleased  her 
a great  deal.  She  was  strong-minded,  and 
would  always  act  the  way  she  thought  was  right, 
and  had  perfect  confidence  in  herself.  At  times 
I have  seen  her  looking  very  sad.  She  had 
strong  emotions,  but  her  will  was  stronger.  She 
could  control  herself  beautifully,  and  yet  she  liked 


121  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


people  to  sympathize  with  her — only  by  actions, 
not  by  words,  for  she  did  not  like  anyone  to 
know  her  thoughts.  I am  sure  my  readers  will 
think  how  hard  it  was  to  be  the  Court  lady  of 
Her  Majesty,  the  Empress  Dowager  of  China, 
but  on  the  contrary  I enjoyed  myself  very  much, 
as  she  was  so  interesting,  and  I found  that  she 
was  not  at  all  difficult  to  please. 

The  first  day  of  the  fourth  moon  Her  Majesty 
was  worried  over  the  lack  of  rain.  She  prayed 
every  day  after  the  audience  for  ten  days,  with- 
out any  result.  Every  one  of  us  kept  very  quiet. 
Her  Majesty  did  not  even  give  any  orders  that 
day,  and  spoke  to  no  one.  I noticed  that  the 
eunuchs  were  scared,  so  we  went  without  our 
luncheon.  I worked  so  hard  that  morning,  and 
was  so  hungry — in  fact  all  the  Court  ladies  were. 
I felt  sorry  for  Her  Majesty.  Finally  she  told 
me  I could  go,  as  she  wanted  to  rest  a while,  so 
we  came  back  to  our  own  quarters.  I questioned 
our  own  eunuch  Wang  as  to  why  Her  Majesty 
was  worrying  about  rain,  for  we  were  having 
lovely  weather  then,  day  after  day.  He  told  me 
that  Lao  Fo  Yeh  (Old  Buddha)  was  worried 
for  the  poor  farmers,  as  all  their  crops  were  dead 
without  rain  for  so  long.  Wang  also  reminded 
me  that  it  had  not  rained  once  since  I came  to 
live  at  the  Palace.  I did  not  realize  that  it  was 
so  long  as  two  months  and  seven  days,  and 


THE  EMPEROR  KWANG  HSU 


125 


on  the  other  hand  it  seemed  to  me  longer  than 
that,  for  the  life  was  very  niee  and  pleasant,  and 
Her  Majesty  was  very  kind  to  me,  as  if  she  had 
known  me  for  years  already.  Her  Majesty  took 
very  little  food  at  dinner  that  night.  There  was 
not  a sound  anywhere,  and  everyone  kept  quiet. 
The  Young  Empress  told  us  to  eat  as  fast  as 
we  could,  which  puzzled  me.  When  we  came 
back  to  our  waitingroom,  the  Young  Empress 
said  to  me  that  Her  Majesty  was  very  much 
worried  for  the  poor  farmers  and  that  she  would 
pray  for  rain,  and  stop  eating  meat  for  two  or 
three  days.  That  same  night,  before  Her 
Majesty  retired,  she  gave  orders  that  no  pigs  were 
to  be  slaughtered  within  the  gates  of  Peking. 
The  reason  of  this  was  that  by  sacrificing  our- 
selves by  not  eating  meat  the  Gods  would  have 
pity  on  us  and  send  rain.  She  also  gave  orders 
that  everyone  should  bathe  the  body  and  wash 
out  the  mouth  in  order  that  we  might  be  cleansed 
from  all  impurities  and  be  ready  to  fast  and  pray 
to  the  Gods.  Also  that  the  Emperor  should  go 
to  the  temple  inside  the  Forbidden  City,  to  per- 
form a ceremony  of  sacrifice  (called  Chin  Tan). 
He  was  not  to  eat  meat  or  hold  converse  with 
anyone,  and  to  pray  to  the  Gods  to  be  merciful 
and  send  rain  to  the  poor  farmers.  His  Majesty, 
the  Emperor  Kwang  Hsu,  wore  a piece  of  jade 
tablet  about  three  inches  square,  engraved  “Chai 


126  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


Chieh”  (the  meaning  being  just  like  Chin  Tan — 
not  to  eat  meat  but  to  pray  three  times  a day), 
both  in  Manchu  and  Chinese,  and  all  the  eunuchs 
who  went  with  the  Emperor  wore  the  same  kind 
of  tablets.  The  idea  was  that  this  jade  tablet 
was  to  remind  one  to  be  serious  in  performing 
the  ceremonies. 

The  next  morning  Her  Majesty  got  up  very 
early  and  ordered  me  not  to  bring  any  jewels 
for  her.  She  dressed  herself  in  great  haste.  Her 
breakfast  was  very  simple  that  day,  just  milk  and 
steamed  bread.  Our  own  breakfast  was  cabbage 
and  rice  cooked  together,  with  a little  salt.  It 
was  tasteless.  Her  Majesty  did  not  talk  to  us 
at  all,  except  when  giving  orders,  and  so,  of 
course,  we  kept  silent.  Her  Majesty  wore  a 
pale  gray  gown,  made  very  plain,  with  no  em- 
broidery or  trimmings  of  any  kind.  She  wore 
gray  shoes  to  match,  not  to  mention  her  gray 
handkerchief.  We  followed  her  into  the  hall 
where  a eunuch  knelt  with  a large  branch  of 
willow  tree.  Her  Majesty  picked  a little  bunch 
of  leaves  and  stuck  it  on  her  head.  The  Young 
Empress  did  the  same,  and  told  us  to  fol- 
low her  example.  Emperor  Kwang  Hsu  took 
a branch  and  stuck  it  on  his  hat.  After  that 
Her  Majesty  ordered  the  eunuchs  and  the  serv- 
ant girls  to  do  the  same  thing.  It  was  a funny 
sight,  and  everyone  did  look  queer  with  a 


THE  EMPEROR  KWANG  HSU 


127 


bunch  of  leaves  on  the  head.  The  head  eunuch 
came  and  knelt  in  front  of  Her  Majesty  and 
said  that  everything  was  prepared  for  the 
ceremony  in  the  little  pavilion  in  front  of  her 
own  palace.  She  told  us  that  she  preferred  to 
walk,  as  she  was  going  to  pray.  It  took  us  only 
a few  minutes  to  cross  the  courtyard.  When  we 
arrived  at  this  pavilion  I noticed  a large  square 
table  was  placed  in  the  center  of  the  room.  A 
few  large  sheets  of  yellow  paper  and  a jade 
slab,  containing  some  vermilion  powder  instead 
of  ink,  with  two  little  brushes  to  write  with.  At 
each  side  of  the  table  stood  a pair  of  large  porce- 
lain vases,  with  two  large  branches  of  willow. 
Of  course  no  one  was  allowed  to  speak,  but  I 
was  curious  and  wanted  to  find  out  why  every- 
one had  to  wear  the  willow  leaves  on  the  head. 
Her  Majesty’s  yellow  satin  cushion  was  placed 
in  front  of  this  table.  She  stood  there  and  took 
a piece  of  sandalwood  and  placed  it  in  the  incense 
burner  filled  with  live  charcoal.  The  Young 
Empress  whispered  to  me  to  go  over  and  help 
Her  Majesty  to  burn  them.  I placed  several 
pieces  in  until  she  told  me  that  was  enough. 
Then  Her  Majesty  knelt  on  her  cushion,  the 
Young  Empress  knelt  behind  her,  and  we  all 
knelt  in  a row  behind  the  Young  Empress, 
and  commenced  to  pray.  The  Young  Empress 
taught  us  that  very  morning  how  to  say  the 


128  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


prayer:  “We  worship  the  Heavens,  and  beg 

all  the  Buddhas  to  take  pity  on  us  and  save  the 
poor  farmers  from  starving.  We  are  willing  to 
sacrifice  for  them.  Pray  Heaven  send  us  rain.” 
We  repeated  the  same  prayer  three  times,  and 
bowed  three  times — nine  times  in  all.  After  that 
Her  Majesty  went  to  her  usual  morning  audi- 
ence. It  was  much  earlier  than  usual  that  morn- 
ing for  the  Court  was  returning  to  the  Forbidden 
City  at  noon.  His  Majesty,  the  Emperor 
Ivwang  Hsu,  was  to  pray  at  the  Forbidden  City 
and  Pier  Majesty  always  Avanted  to  accompany 
him  wherever  he  went.  It  was  nine  o’clock  in 
the  morning  when  the  audience  was  over.  She 
ordered  me  not  to  bring  any  jewels  for  her  to 
the  Forbidden  City  this  time,  for  she  would  not 
need  them  at  all.  I went  to  the  jewel-room  and 
locked  everything  up,  and  placed  the  keys  in  a 
yellow  envelope,  sealed  it,  and  placed  the 
envelope  among  the  others,  and  gave  them 
to  a eunuch  who  takes  care  of  these  things.  We 
packed  all  her  favorite  things.  Her  gowns 
were  the  most  important  things  to  pack,  she  had 
so  many  and  it  was  impossible  to  take  all.  I 
noticed  that  the  Court  lady  who  was  looking  after 
her  gowns  was  the  busiest  amongst  us.  She  had 
to  select  gowns  enough  to  last  four  or  five  days. 
She  told  me  that  she  had  selected  about  fifty  dif- 
ferent ones.  I told  her  that  Lao  Tsu  Tsung 


THE  EMPEROR  KWANG  HSU 


129 


might  stay  at  the  Forbidden  City  four  or  five 
days,  and  that  she  would  not  need  so  many  gowns. 
She  said  it  was  safer  to  bring  many,  for  one  was 
not  sure  what  would  be  Her  Majesty’s  idea  for 
the  day.  Packing  at  the  Court  was  very  simple. 
Eunuchs  brought  many  yellow  trays,  which  are 
made  of  wood,  painted  yellow,  about  five  feet  by 
four  feet  and  one  foot  deep.  We  placed  a large 
yellow  silk  scarf  in  the  tray,  then  the  gowns, 
and  covered  them  with  a thick  yellow  cloth.  Ev- 
erything was  packed  the  same  way.  It  took  us 
about  two  hours  to  pack  fifty-six  trays.  These 
things  always  started  off  first,  carried  by  the 
eunuchs.  His  Majesty,  the  Emperor  Kwang 
Hsu,  the  Young  Empress  and  all  the  Court  la- 
dies, had  to  kneel  on  the  ground  for  Her  Maj- 
esty’s sedan  chair  to  pass  the  Palace  Gate,  then 
we  went  in  search  of  our  own  chairs.  The  pro- 
cession as  usual  was  pretty,  soldiers  marching  in 
front  of  her  chair,  four  young  Princes  riding  on 
horseback  on  each  side  of  her,  and  from  forty  to 
fifty  eunuchs  also  on  horseback  behind  her, 
all  dressed  in  their  official  robes.  The  Em- 
peror’s chair  and  the  Young  Empress’  chair  were 
of  the  same  color  as  Her  Majesty’s.  The  Sec- 
ondary wife  of  the  Emperor  had  a deep  yellow 
chair.  The  chairs  of  the  Court  ladies  were  red, 
and  were  carried  by  four  chair  bearers,  instead 
of  eight  like  their  Majesties.  Our  own  eunuchs 


130  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


also  rode  on  horseback,  behind  us.  We  rode  a 
long  time,  it  seemed  to  me,  before  I noticed  the 
Emperor’s  chair  begin  to  descend  from  the  stone- 
paved  road,  and  we  all  followed  him.  I could 
see  that  Her  Majesty’s  chair  was  still  going 
straight  on,  and  we  took  a nearer  route  to  reach 
Wan  Shou  Si  (The  long  life  temple),  to  await 
Her  Majesty’s  arrival.  We  alighted  from  our 
chairs  and  started  at  once  to  prepare  Her 
Majesty’s  tea  and  her  little  dishes.  I went  to 
help  her  to  alight,  and  supported  her  right  arm 
to  mount  the  steps.  Her  Majesty  sat  on  Her 
Throne,  and  we  placed  a table  in  front  of  her 
and  my  sister  brought  her  tea.  (The  custom 
was,  that  if  she  went  anywhere,  or  during  the 
festivals,  we  must  bring  to  her  everything,  instead 
of  the  eunuchs.)  We  placed  all  the  dainties  in 
front  of  her,  and  then  we  went  to  rest.  Her 
Majesty  always  stopped  at  this  temple  on  the 
way  from  the  Summer  Palace  to  the  Forbidden 
City. 


CHAPTER  TEN 


THE  YOUNG  EMPRESS 

I thought  of  so  many  things  while  I was  rid- 
ing in  my  chair.  It  was  a glorious  day.  I felt 
sorry  for  Her  Majesty,  for  she  was  very  quiet 
that  day.  Generally  she  was  happy,  and  made 
everyone  laugh  with  her.  I thought  about  the 
branches  of  willow,  too,  but  could  not  understand 
the  meaning.  I came  out  of  the  hall  while  Her 
Majesty  was  dining  with  the  Emperor,  and  found 
the  Young  Empress  sitting  in  a small  room 
on  the  left  side  of  the  courtyard,  with  several 
Court  ladies.  When  they  saw  me  they  made 
signs  for  me  to  go  there.  I found  them  all  drink- 
ing tea,  and  the  Young  Empress  said  to  me, 
“I  am  sure  you  must  be  tired  and  hungry.  Come 
and  sit  near  me  and  have  a cup  of  tea.” 
I thanked  her  and  sat  down  beside  her  and  we 
talked  of  what  we  saw  on  the  roads  and  how  we 
had  enjoyed  our  long  ride.  She  said:  “We  have 
still  an  hour’s  ride  before  we  reach  the  Forbid- 
den City.”  She  also  talked  about  the  ceremony 
we  had  performed  that  morning  and  said  that 
we  must  all  pray  earnestly  for  rain.  I could 

131 


132  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


not  wait  any  longer,  so  I asked  her  what  those 
branches  of  willow  meant.  She  smiled  and  told 
me  that  willow  could  bring  water,  as  the  Buddhist 
religion  believes,  and  that  it  was  an  old  custom 
of  the  Court  wearing  willow  leaves,  when  pray- 
ing for  rain.  She  also  told  me  that  we  must  per- 
form the  same  ceremony  every  morning  until  the 
rain  came. 

We  heard  Her  Majesty  talking  in  the  court- 
yard, and  knew  that  she  had  finished  her 
luncheon,  so  we  went  in  with  the  Young  Em- 
press, and  ate  what  was  left,  as  usual.  I found 
the  food  very  nice  indeed,  although  it  seemed 
rather  funny  without  having  meat.  We  came 
out  into  the  courtyard  and  saw  that  Her  Majesty 
was  walking  up  and  down.  She  said  to  us: 
“My  legs  are  so  stiff,  riding  in  the  chair.  I must 
walk  a little  before  we  leave  here.  Are  you  all 
tired?”  We  told  her  that  we  were  not  tired,  so 
she  ordered  us  to  walk  with  her.  It  looked  very 
funny  to  see  us  walking  round  and  round,  Her 
Majesty  in  front,  and  we  following  her.  Her 
Majesty  turned  and  smiled  at  us,  and  said: 
“We  are  just  like  horses  taking  their  rounds  at 
a stable.”  It  reminded  me  of  a circus.  Li  Lien 
Ying  came  and  knelt  down,  and  said  that  it 
was  time  for  Her  Majesty  to  depart,  in  order 
to  reach  the  Forbidden  City  at  the  lucky  hour 
she  had  selected,  so  we  left  Wan  Shou  Si.  All 


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133 


the  chair?  went  very  fast,  and  after  an  hour’s  ride 
we  came  near  the  Palace  Gate.  We  followed 
the  Emperor’s  chair,  taking  a shorter  route,  and 
noticed  the  gate  was  wide  open.  His  Majesty, 
the  Emperor,  and  the  Young  Empress’  chairs 
went  in,  but  we  had  to  alight  and  walk  in. 
There  were  small  chairs  waiting  for  us.  (As  I 
explained  before  these  little  chairs  were  car- 
ried by  eunuchs,  with  a rope  across  their  shoul- 
ders.) We  came  to  the  courtyard  of  the 
Audience  Hall  where  the  Emperor  and  the  Em- 
press were  waiting  for  us.  As  usual  His 
Majesty  knelt  in  front.  Behind  him  was  the 
Young  Empress,  and  we  knelt  in  a row  behind 
her,  waiting  to  welcome  Her  Majesty  to  her 
Palace.  She  went  to  her  room  where  the  eunuchs 
had  placed  everything  in  order  long  before  her 
arrival.  We  held  the  ceremony  that  afternoon 
and  evening.  After  Her  Majesty  had  retired 
we  came  back  to  our  rooms  and  found  that  every- 
thing was  in  order,  our  eunuchs  had  made  up  our 
beds  already.  It  was  very  nice  to  have  them,  for 
we  could  not  do  our  own  work  at  all.  I was 
so  tired  and  my  limbs  were  stiff.  I immediately 
went  to  sleep  and  did  not  realize  how  long  I had 
slept  until  I heard  someone  knocking  at  my  win- 
dow. I got  up  and  pulled  the  blind  away.  I 
noticed  that  the  sky  looked  dull  and  thought  it 
was  clouded.  I felt  happy,  and  thought  it  might 


134  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


rain,  and  so  relieve  Her  Majesty.  I got  dressed 
in  great  haste,  but  much  to  my  disappointment 
I saw  the  sunshine  on  the  opposite  windows. 

The  Palace  in  the  Forbidden  City  was  so  old, 
and  built  in  such  a queer  way.  The  courtyards 
were  small,  and  the  verandas  very  broad.  All 
the  rooms  were  dark.  Xo  electric  light.  We 
had  to  use  candle  light.  One  could  not  see  the 
sky  except  by  going  into  the  courtyard  and  look- 
ing up.  I found  that  I had  risen  before  the  sun 
was  uj),  and  I was  not  quite  awake  yet,  and 
thought  the  sky  was  clouded.  I went  to  Her 
Majesty’s  own  Palace  and  found  the  Young  Em- 
press already  there.  She  was  always  the  first 
and  always  looked  so  tidy  I often  wondered  how 
early  she  had  to  get  up.  She  told  me  that  I was 
not  late,  although  Her  Majesty  was  awake  but 
not  up  yet.  I went  into  her  bedroom  and  made 
my  usual  morning  courtesy  to  her.  The  first 
thing  she  asked  me  was  about  the  weather.  I 
had  to  tell  her  the  truth — that  there  was  no  sign 
of  rain.  Her  Majesty  got  up,  dressed,  and  had 
her  breakfast  as  usual,  and  told  us  there  would 
be  no  audience  that  morning.  The  Emperor 
went  to  the  Temple,  sacrificing,  and  there  was 
nothing  important  to  attend  to.  We  prayed  for 
three  days  in  succession,  but  no  rain  came.  I 
found  that  Her  Majesty  was  truly  discouraged, 
and  ordered  each  of  us  to  pray  twenty  times  a 


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135 


day.  We  marked  a spot  with  vermilion  powder 
and  a little  water  on  big  yellow  sheets  of  paper 
each  time  wre  prayed. 

On  the  sixth  day  of  the  fourth  moon  the  sky 
was  clouded.  I ran  to  Her  Majesty’s  bedroom 
that  morning  to  tell  her  the  news,  but  found  that 
someone  had  told  her  already.  She  smiled,  and 
said  to  me:  “You  are  not  the  first  one  to  give  me 
the  good  news.  I know  everyone  of  you  wanted 
to  be  the  first  to  tell  me.  I feel  very  tired  to- 
day, and  wish  to  lie  down  a little  longer.  You 
can  go,  and  I will  send  for  you  when  I am 
read}'-  to  get  up.”  When  I went  to  search  for 
the  Young  Empress  I found  all  the  Court  ladies 
there  also.  They  all  asked  me  if  I had  noticed 
the  rain.  We  came  out  of  the  waitingroom  and 
found  that  the  courtyard  was  wet,  and  after  a 
while  it  rained  very  fast.  Her  Majesty  got  up, 
and  we  prayed  as  usual.  Fortunately  the  rain 
did  not  stop,  but  came  pouring  down  all  that  day. 

Her  Majesty  played  solitaire  with  the  dom- 
inoes, and  I stood  at  the  back  of  her  chair  watch- 
ing her.  I saw  that  the  Young  Empress  and 
all  the  girls  were  standing  on  the  veranda.  Her 
Majesty  saw  them,  too,  and  said  to  me:  “Go 
and  tell  them  to  wait  in  the  waitingroom.  Can’t 
they  see  that  the  veranda  is  wet?”  I went  to 
them,  but  before  I had  the  opportunity  of  telling 
them  anything  the  Young  Empress  told  me  that 


136  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


the  waitingroom  was  wet,  and  that  the  water  had 
gone  in.  As  I said  before,  this  building  was 
very  old,  and  there  were  no  drains  at  all.  Her 
Majesty’s  own  Palace  was  high;  it  had  twelve 
steps,  while  our  waitingroom,  which  was  on  the 
left  side  of  her  Palace,  was  built  right  on  the 
ground,  with  no  raised  foundation  at  all.  While 
I was  talking  on  the  veranda  just  for  a few  min- 
utes, I got  quite  wet.  Her  Majesty  knocked  at 
her  glass  window  and  told  us  to  go  in.  Now  I 
must  explain  that  none  of  us,  not  even  the  Young 
Empress  could  enter  Her  Majesty’s  Palace 
without  her  orders  except  we  had  work  to  do 
there,  or  were  on  duty.  Her  Majesty  was  very 
happy  that  day.  She  laughed  and  said  that  we 
looked  as  if  we  had  just  been  pulled  out  of  the 
lake.  The  Young  Empress  had  on  a pale  blue 
gown,  and  the  red  tassel  on  her  headdress  was 
dripping  red  water  all  over  her  gown.  She 
smiled  and  said  to  us:  “Look  at  those  girls;  their 
gowns  are  all  spoiled.”  While  we  were  talking. 
Her  Majesty  gave  us  orders  for  us  to  change  our 
clothes. 

After  they  had  gone,  I went  back  to  Her 
Majesty.  She  looked  at  me  and  said:  “You  are 
wet  also,  only  your  clothes  do  not  show.”  I had 
on  a cashmere  dress  which  was  made  very  plain. 
She  touched  my  arm  and  said:  “How  wet  you 
are.  You  had  better  change,  and  put  on  a thick 


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137 


dress.  I think  foreign  clothes  must  be  very  un- 
comfortable; the  waist  is  too  small  and  it  seems 
to  me  out  of  proportion  to  the  rest  of  the  body. 
I am  sure  that  you  will  look  much  prettier  in  our 
Manchu  gown.  I want  you  to  change  and  put 
your  Parisian  clothes  away  as  souvenirs.  I only 
wanted  to  know  how  foreign  ladies  dressed  and 
now  I have  seen  enough.  The  Dragon  Boat 
F estival  will  be  here  next  month  and  I will  make 
some  pretty  gowns  for  you.”  I thanked  her  by 
kowtowing  to  the  ground  and  told  her  that  I 
would  be  only  too  pleased  to  change  into  Manchu 
clothes,  but  having  lived  so  many  years  abroad, 
and  having  always  worn  foreign  clothes,  I had 
not  had  any  made.  We  were  planning  to 
change  into  Manchu  gowns  before  coming  to 
the  Court,  but  we  had  received  orders  that  Lao 
Tsu  Tsung  wished  to  see  us  in  foreign  clothes. 
I was  very  glad  when  I received  that  order  as 
there  were  several  reasons  why  I wanted  to  wear 
Manchu  gowns.  First,  the  Court  ladies  at  the 
beginning  treated  us  as  outsiders.  Secondly,  I 
knew  that  Her  Majesty  did  not  like  them,  and 
besides,  we  were  very  uncomfortable  living  at 
the  Palace  in  Peking,  and  made  up  our  minds 
that  we  must  wear  Manchu  clothes,  which  were 
made  for  it.  We  had  so  much  work  to  do,  and 
having  to  stand  most  of  the  time  one  absolutely 
needed  loose  garments.  Her  Majesty  ordered 


138  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


one  of  the  eunuchs  to  bring  one  of  her  dresses  for 
me  to  try  on,  so  I went  back  to  my  own  room, 
and  took  off  my  wet  clothes  and  changed.  I 
tried  on  her  gown,  but  it  was  too  loose  for  me. 
The  length  was  quite  all  right  and  so  were  the 
sleeves.  Her  Majesty  told  one  of  the  eunuch 
writers  to  write  down  my  measurements  in  order 
to  have  a gown  made  for  me,  and  said  she  was 
sure  it  would  fit  me.  She  did  the  same 
thing  for  my  mother  and  sister,  and  ordered  our 
gowns  to  be  made  at  once.  I knew  she  was 
pleased,  as  she  told  me  what  color  would  suit 
me  the  best.  She  said  that  I should  always 
wear  pink  and  pale  blue,  for  they  suited,  and 
were  her  favorite  colors,  too.  She  also  talked 
about  our  headdress,  and  ordered  some  made 
the  same  as  worn  by  the  other  Court  ladies.  She 
said  to  me:  “I  know  you  can  wear  my  shoes,  for 
I tried  yours  on  the  first  day  you  came,  don’t  you 
remember  ? I must  select  a lucky  day  for  you  to 
become  a Manchu  once  more,”  she  said  this  with  a 
smile,  “and  no  more  foreign  clothes  after  that.” 
She  took  her  special  book  for  lucky  days  and 
hours,  and  studied  it  a little  while,  then  she  said 
the  eighteenth  of  that  month  was  the  best.  Li 
Lien  Ying,  the  head  eunuch  knew  how  to  please 
Her  Majesty,  and  said  he  would  give  orders  to 
have  everything  ready  for  us  at  that  time.  Her 
Majesty  told  us  the  way  we  must  have  our  hair 


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139 


dressed,  and  what  kind  of  flowers  we  should  wear, 
in  fact  she  was  very  happy  arranging  to  make 
us  into  Manchus.  A short  while  after  she  dis- 
missed us  for  the  day.  It  rained  for  three  days 
without  stopping.  The  last  day  the  Emperor 
came  back,  and  all  ceremonies  ceased.  Her 
Majesty  never  liked  to  stay  in  the  Forbidden 
City,  and  I was  not  a bit  surprised,  as  I hated 
the  place.  We  had  to  use  candles  to  dress  by, 
in  the  morning,  as  the  rooms  were  in  absolute 
darkness  even  in  the  middle  of  the  afternoon. 
It  rained  so  much  that  finally  ITer  Majesty  said 
she  would  return  to  the  Summer  Palace  the  next 
day,  whether  it  was  raining  or  not,  and  we  were 
all  very  glad  to  go. 

We  returned  to  the  Summer  Palace  on  the 
seventh.  It  was  a dull  day,  but  no  rain.  We 
packed  everything  in  just  the  same  way  we  had 
done  when  we  came,  and  stopped  at  Wan  Shou 
Si  and  had  our  luncheon.  That  day  we  com- 
menced to  eat  meat  again.  I noticed  that  Tier 
Majesty  enjoyed  her  meal  very  much.  She 
asked  me  if  I liked  the  food  without  meat,  and  I 
told  her  that  everything  was  nicely  done  and  that 
I enjoyed  the  food  very  much,  although  without 
meat.  She  told  me  that  she  could  not  eat  that 
kind  of  food  and  enjoy  it,  and  that  if  it  were  not 
necessary7,  to  make  sacrifice  she  would  not  have 
abstained. 


140  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


The  first  garden  party  of  the  year  was  given 
by  the  Empress  Dowager  to  the  ladies  of  the 
Diplomatic  Corps,  in  the  fourth  moon.  This 
year  Her  Majesty  desired  to  deviate  a little  from 
previous  custom,  and  issued  orders  that  stalls 
should  be  arranged  in  the  garden,  on  a similar 
principal  to  a bazaar,  on  which  were  to  be  dis- 
played curios,  embroidered  work,  flowers,  etc., 
etc.  These  were  to  be  given  as  presents  to  the 
guests.  The  guests  were:  Mrs.  Conger,  wife 

of  the  American  Minister,  Mrs.  Williams,  wife 
of  Chinese  Secretary  of  the  American  Legation, 
Madame  and  Mademoiselle  de  Career,  wife  and 
daughter  of  the  Spanish  Minister,  Madame 
Uchida,  wife  of  the  Japanese  Minister,  and  a few 
ladies  of  the  Japanese  Legation,  Madame  Almei- 
da, wife  of  the  Portuguese  Charge  d’  Affaires, 
Madame  Cannes,  wife  of  the  Secretaiy  of  the 
French  Legation,  the  wives  of  several  French 
Officers,  Lady  Susan  Townley,  wife  of  the  First 
Secretary  of  the  British  Legation,  two  ladies 
from  the  German  Legation,  wives  of  German  Of- 
ficers, and  wives  of  a few  Customs  Officials.  On 
this  occasion  Her  Majesty  selected  a most  beau- 
tiful gown  of  peacock  blue,  embroidered  all  over 
with  phoenix.  The  embroidery  was  raised  and 
each  phoenix  had  a string  of  pearls  two  inches 
long  sewed  into  its  mouth.  Whenever  Her  Ma j - 
esty  stirred,  these  strings  of  tiny  pearls  moved 


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141 


forwards  and  backwards  and  it  made  a very- 
pretty  effect.  Of  course,  she  wore  her  jade  phoe- 
nix on  her  hair  as  usual  and  shoes  and  handker- 
chief embroidered  with  the  same  pattern.  My 
mother  wore  a lavender  silk  gown,  trimmed  with 
silver  braid,  her  hat  was  of  the  same  shade  with 
jilumes  to  match.  My  sister  and  myself  wore 
pale  blue  Chinese  silk  gowns  with  insertion  and 
medallions  of  Irish  crochet  and  trimmed  with 
tiny  velvet  bands.  We  wore  blue  hats  with  large 
pink  roses.  All  the  Court  ladies  dressed  in  their 
most  picturesque  gowns  and  it  was  a very  pretty 
sight  to  see  the  procession  walking  to  the  Audi- 
ence Hall. 

Her  Majesty  was  in  her  happiest  mood  that 
morning  and  said  to  us:  “I  wonder  how  I would 
look  in  foreign  clothes;  my  waist  is  very  small, 
but  wearing  this  kind  of  loose  gown  it  would  not 
show.  I don’t  think  I would  need  to  squeeze 
myself  so  tight,  either,  but  I don’t  think  there 
is  anything  in  the  world  prettier  than  our  Man- 
chu  gowns.” 

First  the  guests  were  received  in  audience  by 
Their  Majesties.  They  were  accompanied  by 
the  Doyen,  Baron  Czikann,  Minister  for  Aus- 
tria, and  an  interpreter  from  each  Legation.  On 
entering  the  Audience  Hall  all  the  guests  stood 
in  line  and  the  Doyen  presented  a short  address 
to  Their  Majesties.  This  was  translated  to 


142  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


Prince  Cliing,  who,  in  turn,  communicated  it  to 
the  Emperor.  The  Emperor  made  a suitable 
reply  in  Chinese  which  was  translated  by  the 
Doyen’s  interpreter.  Then  the  Doyen  mounted 
the  steps  of  the  dais  and  shook  hands  with  Their 
Majesties,  the  rest  of  the  guests  being  presented 
in  turn.  I was  standing  at  the  right  hand  of  the 
Empress  Dowager  and  as  each  guest  came  for- 
ward, called  out  their  names,  and  the  Legation 
which  they  represented.  Her  Majesty  had  a few 
words  for  everyone,  and  when  she  saw  a new 
face  she  would  ask  how  long  they  had  been  in 
China ; whether  they  liked  it,  etc.,  etc.  All  these 
conversations  I interpreted  for  Her  Majesty. 
As  the  guests  finished  paying  their  respects  they 
passed  along  and  remained  standing  in  the  Hall 
until  everybody  had  been  presented. 

The  interpreters,  who  did  not  take  part  in  this 
ceremony  but  had  remained  standing  in  the  Hall 
until  it  was  over,  were  then  conducted  by  Prince 
Ching  to  another  part  of  the  Palace,  where  re- 
freshments were  provided  for  them.  After  they 
had  gone  out  Their  Majesties  descended  from 
the  dais  and  mixed  with  the  guests. 

The  formal  ceremony  now  being  concluded, 
chairs  were  brought  in  and  everybody  made  them- 
selves comfortable.  Tea  was  brought  in  by  the 
eunuchs  and  after  a few  minutes’  conversation, 
we  all  adjourned  to  the  refreshment  room,  with 


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143 


the  exception  of  the  Empress  Dowager,  the  Em- 
peror, the  Young  Empress  and  the  Secondary 
wife.  In  the  absence  of  Her  Majesty,  the  Im- 
perial Princess  (The  Empress  Dowager’s 
adopted  daughter)  officiated  as  hostess,  Mrs. 
Conger  sitting  at  her  right  and  Madame  de  Car- 
eer, wife  of  the  Spanish  Minister,  on  her  left. 
The  food  was  all  Chinese,  but  knives  and  forks 
were  provided  for  the  use  of  the  guests.  During 
the  luncheon  the  Imperial  Princess  stood  up  and 
spoke  a few  words  of  welcome,  which  I translated 
into  English  and  French.  After  the  luncheon 
was  over  we  adjourned  to  the  garden  where 
Their  Majesties  were  awaiting  us.  A brass 
band  was  playing  European  airs. 

Her  Majesty  led  the  way  around  the  gardens, 
passing  the  various  stalls  on  the  way,  where  the 
ladies  would  stop  and  admire  the  different  arti- 
cles, which  were  later  presented  to  them  as  souve- 
nirs of  the  occasion.  On  arriving  at  a teahouse 
which  had  been  erected  in  the  gardens,  everybody 
rested  and  partook  of  tea.  Their  Majesties  then 
wished  everybody  good-bye  and  the  guests  wrere 
then  conducted  to  their  chairs  and  took  their  de- 
parture. 

As  usual,  we  reported  to  Her  Majesty  every- 
thing that  had  taken  place  and  how  the  guests 
had  enjoyed  themselves.  She  said:  “How  is  it 
that  these  foreign  ladies  have  such  large  feet? 


144  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


Their  shoes  are  like  boats  and  the  funny  way  they 
walk  I cannot  say  I admire.  I haven’t  yet  seen 
one  foreigner  with  pretty  hands.  Although  they 
have  white  skins,  their  faces  are  covered  with 
white  hair.  Do  you  think  they  are  beautiful?”  I 
replied  that  I had  seen  some  American  beauties 
when  I was  abroad.  Her  Majesty  said:  “No 
matter  how  beautiful  they  are  they  have  ugly 
eyes.  I can’t  bear  that  blue  color,  they  remind 
me  of  a cat.”  After  a few  more  remarks,  she 
ordered  us  to  retire,  saying  that  we  must  be 
tired.  We  were  rather  used  up  and  glad  of  an 
opportunity  to  rest,  so  made  our  courtesies  and 
retired. 

We  had  been  at  the  Palace  more  than  two 
months,  and  I had  had  no  opportunity  to  see  my 
father  at  all,  who  was  quite  ill  at  that  time.  We 
did  not  know  whether  we  could  ask  leave  of  ab- 
sence from  the  Court.  I received  letters  from  my 
father  every  day,  telling  me  to  have  courage,  and 
to  do  my  duty.  My  mother  asked  the  Young 
Empress  if  it  would  be  correct  to  ask  Her  Maj- 
esty for  permission  to  go  home  for  a day  or  two. 
The  Young  Empress  told  us  that  it  would  be 
quite  all  right  to  do  that,  but  she  thought  it  would 
be  better  if  we  could  wait  until  after  the  eighth, 
for  there  would  be  a feast  on  that  day.  The 
eighth  day  of  the  fourth  moon  every  year  is  the 
ceremony  of  eating  green  peas.  According  to 


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145 


the  Buddhist  religion  there  is  a hereafter  which 
divides  or  grades,  according  to  the  life  that  is 
lived  on  earth,  that  is  to  say,  those  who  live  good 
lives  go  to  Heaven  when  they  die  and  those  who 
are  bad  go  to  a bad  place  to  suffer.  On  this 
occasion  Her  Majesty  sent  to  the  people  she 
liked,  each  a plate  containing  eight  peas,  and  we 
had  to  eat  them.  The  Young  Empress  told  me 
that  if  I presented  a plate  of  peas  to  Her  Maj- 
esty it  would  please  her,  which  I did.  This 
meant:  “May  we  meet  in  the  hereafter”  (Chi 
Yuen  Dou) . Her  Majesty  was  very  happy  that 
day.  We  went  to  the  west  side  of  the  lake  and 
had  our  luncheon  there.  Her  Majesty  talked  to 
us  about  the  first  day  we  came  to  the  Court,  and 
then  said  to  mother:  “I  wonder  if  Yii  Iveng  is 
any  better.  When  will  he  be  able  to  come  to 
the  Court?  I haven’t  seen  him  since  he  returned 
from  France.”  (My  father  had  asked  three 
months  leave  of  absence  from  the  Court  on  ac- 
count of  his  poor  health.)  My  mother  answered 
and  said  that  he  was  feeling  better,  but  that  his 
legs  were  still  very  weak,  and  he  could  not  walk 
much.  Her  Majesty  then  said  to  us:  “Oh,  I 
have  forgotten  to  tell  you  that  if  you  wish  to  go 
home,  you  can  ask  permission.  I have  been  so 
busy  lately,  and  forgot  to  remind  you.”  We 
thanked  her  and  told  her  that  we  would  like  to  go 
home  and  see  how  my  father  was,  so  she  gave 


146  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


orders  that  we  should  leave  the  Court  the  next 
dajr.  Then  she  asked  me  how  long  I would  like 
to  stay  at  home,  and  of  course  I knew  the  cus- 
tom, and  told  her  that  I was  waiting  for  her 
orders:  “Would  two  or  three  days  be  enough?” 

We  told  her  that  it  suited  us  beautifully.  I 
was  so  surprised  when  she  mentioned  it  to  us, 
and  wondered  if  anyone  had  told  her  of  our 
intentions,  or  if  Her  Majesty  was  a mind 
reader. 

When  she  retired  that  afternoon  I went  to 
see  the  Young  Empress,  who  was  always  very 
nice  and  kind,  and  asked  me  to  sit  near  her. 
Her  eunuch  brought  me  a cup  of  tea.  Her 
rooms  were  furnished  exactly  the  same  as  Her 
Majesty’s,  but  everything  looked  extremely 
dainty,  and  showed  very  good  taste.  We 
talked  about  the  life  at  the  Palace  for  a long 
time,  and  she  told  me  that  she  was  very  fond  of 
us,  and  so  was  Her  Majesty.  I told  her  that 
Her  Majesty  had  mentioned  to  us  about  going 
home  for  two  or  three  days  and  that  I was  sur- 
prised to  see  how  thoughtful  she  was.  She  said 
that  someone  had  reminded  Her  Majesty  to  let 
us  go  home,  for  we  had  been  at  the  Court  for 
more  than  two  months.  I found  out  afterwards 
that  it  was  the  head  eunuch  Li  who  had  heard 
that  wre  were  anxious  to  go.  The  Young  Em- 
press said  to  me:  “I  want  to  teach  you  to  be 


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wise,  that  is,  you  are  ordered  to  leave  the  Court 
to-morrow,  but  Her  Majesty  did  not  mention 
any  particular  hour.  You  must  not  talk  about 
it  to  anyone,  and  don’t  show  that  you  are  ex- 
cited to  go  home.  Don’t  dress  as  if  you  are 
going  out  to-morrow,  but  be  natural  and  do 
your  work  as  if  you  don’t  care  about  going  at 
all.  Don’t  you  remind  her,  in  case  she  forgets 
to  tell  you  to  go,  and  come  back  on  the  sec- 
ond day,  which  is  the  custom.  It  will  show  that 
you  are  anxious  to  see  Her  Majesty,  so  you 
come  back  one  day  earlier  than  the  appointed 
time.”  I was  so  happy  to  get  this  information 
and  asked  her  if  it  would  be  all  right  to  bring 
Her  Majesty  some  presents  when  we  returned 
to  the  Court.  She  said  that  was  just  the  proper 
thing  to  do.  The  next  day  we  did  the  same 
work,  and  went  to  the  Audience  Hall  with  Her 
Majesty,  as  usual.  After  the  audience  was 
over  Her  Majesty  ordered  her  luncheon  to  be 
served  at  the  country  teahouse.  This  teahouse 
was  built  in  country  style,  and  right  on  top  of 
her  peony  mountain,  with  bamboo  and  straw, 
and  all  the  furniture  was  made  of  bamboo  also. 
They  were  beautifully  made,  and  the  frames  of 
the  windows  were  carved  into  a line  of  characters 
— Shou  (long  life),  and  butterflies,  with  pink 
silk  curtain  hangings.  At  the  rear  of  this  ex- 
quisite little  building  was  a bamboo  shade,  with 


148  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


railings  all  around,  hung  with  red  silk  lanterns. 
The  seats  were  built  against  the  railings,  so  that 
one  could  sit  on  them  comfortably.  This  was 
supposed  to  be  used  by  the  Court  ladies  as  their 
waitingroom.  We  played  dice  with  Her  Maj- 
esty when  luncheon  wTas  over.  We  played  a 
very  long  time,  and  I won  the  game  that  day. 
Her  Majesty  laughed  and  said  to  me:  “You  have 
luck  to-day.  I think  you  are  so  happy  to  go 
home  that  your  fairies  have  helped  you  to  win  the 
game.”  As  I mentioned  before,  this  game  was 
called  “Eight  Fairies  Going  across  the  Sea.”  “I 
think  it  is  time  for  you  to  go  now.”  While  say- 
ing this  she  turned  and  asked  one  of  the  eunuchs 
what  the  time  was,  and  he  answered  that  it  was 
half-past  two.  We  kowtowed  to  Her  Majesty, 
and  stood  waiting  for  more  orders.  Then  she 
said:  “I  am  sorry  to  see  you  go  although  I know 
you  are  coming  back  within  two  or  three  days. 
I know  I shall  miss  you.”  To  my  mother  she 
said:  “Tell  Yu  Keng  to  take  care  of  his  health 
and  get  well  soon.  I have  ordered  four  eunuchs 
to  accompany  you,  and  am  sending  some  of  my 
own  rice  for  him.”  We  had  to  kowtow  again  in 
thanking  Her  Majesty  for  her  kindness  and 
finally  she  said:  “Nemen  tzowba”  (you  can  go 
now) . 

We  withdrew,  and  found  the  Young  Empress 
on  the  veranda.  We  courtesied  to  her,  and  said 


Her  Imperial  Majesty  walking  to  the  theatre  after  the  morning  audience.  The 
Young  Empress,  wife  of  Kwang  Hsu,  is  standing  on  Her  Majesty’s  right. 
Her  famous  dog  is  lying  on  the  ground  in  front  of  her 


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149 


good-bye  to  the  Court  ladies  and  came  to  our 
rooms  to  get  ready  to  start.  Our  eunuchs  were 
very  good,  and  had  everything  packed  up  ready 
for  us.  We  gave  ten  taels  to  each  of  our  eu- 
nuchs, for  that  was  the  custom,  and  gave  four 
taels  to  each  chair  bearer  of  the  Palace.  When 
we  arrived  at  the  Palace  Gate  our  own  chairs 
were  waiting  for  us.  We  said  good-bye  to  our 
eunuchs.  Strange  to  say  they  seemed  attached 
to  us  and  told  us  to  come  back  soon.  The  four 
eunuchs  ordered  by  Her  Majesty  to  see  us  home 
were  there,  and  as  soon  as  we  got  into  our  chairs 
I saw  them  riding  on  horseback  beside  us.  It 
seemed  to  me  just  like  a dream  the  two  months 
I had  spent  at  the  Court,  and  I must  say  I felt 
very  sorry  to  leave  Her  Majesty,  but  at  the  same 
time  I wanted  very  much  to  see  my  father.  We 
got  home  after  a two  hours’  ride,  and  found  him 
looking  much  better,  and  one  can  imagine  how 
happy  he  was  to  see  us.  The  four  eunuchs  came 
into  our  parlor,  and  placed  the  yellow  bag  of 
rice  on  the  table.  My  father  thanked  Her  Maj- 
esty by  kowtowing  to  the  ground.  We  gave 
these  eunuchs  each  a little  present,  and  they  de- 
parted. 

I told  my  father  about  my  life  at  the  Palace, 
and  how  very  kind  Her  Majesty  was  to  me.  He 
asked  me  if  I could  influence  Her  Majesty  to 
reform  some  day,  and  hoped  he  would  live  to  see 


150  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


it.  Somehow  or  other  I had  the  idea  that  I could 
and  promised  him  that  I would  try  my  best. 

Her  Majesty  sent  two  eunuchs  to  see  us  the 
next  morning,  and  also  sent  us  food  and  fruits. 
They  told  us  that  Her  Majesty  missed  us,  and 
had  told  them  to  ask  if  we  missed  her.  We  told 
these  eunuchs  that  we  were  returning  to  the  Court 
the  next  day.  We  stayed  at  home  only  two  days 
and  a great  many  people  came  to  see  us,  and 
kept  us  busy  all  the  time.  My  father  suggested 
that  we  should  start  from  the  house  at  about 
3 :00  a.  m.,  so  as  to  get  to  the  Summer  Palace 
before  Her  Majesty  was  up.  We  left  our  house 
at  3:00  a.  m.  in  total  darkness,  just  like  we  had 
two  months  before.  What  a change.  I thought 
I was  the  happiest  girl  in  the  world.  I was  told 
by  many  people,  especially  by  the  Young  Em- 
press, that  Her  Majesty  was  extremely  fond  of 
me.  I had  also  heard  that  she  did  not  care  for 
young  people  at  all.  Although  I was  happy,  I 
noticed  that  some  of  the  Court  ladies  did  not 
like  me,  and  they  made  me  uncomfortable  on 
many  occasions  by  not  telling  me  just  the  way 
Her  Majesty  wanted  the  work  to  be  done.  They 
smiled  to  each  other  whenever  Her  Majesty  was 
saying  to  my  mother  that  she  liked  me,  and  that 
I was  always  careful  in  doing  anything  that 
pleased  her.  I knew  I was  going  to  see  those 
people  again.  However,  I made  up  my  mind 


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to  fight  my  battles  alone.  I only  wished  to  be 
useful  to  Her  Majesty,  and  would  not  take  any 
notice  of  them. 

It  was  a little  after  five  o’clock  when  we 
reached  the  Summer  Palace.  Our  own  eunuchs 
were  very  happy  to  see  us  again  and  told  us  that 
Her  Majesty  was  not  up  yet  and  that  we  had 
time  to  go  to  our  rooms,  where  they  had  some 
breakfast  prepared  for  us.  We  went  to  see  the 
Young  Empress  first,  and  found  she  was  ready 
to  go  to  Her  Majesty’s  Palace.  She  was  also 
very  glad  to  see  us,  and  told  us  that  our  Manchu 
costumes  were  all  ready,  and  that  she  had  seen 
them  and  they  were  perfectly  lovely.  We  were 
very  hungry,  and  enjoyed  our  breakfast  im- 
mensely. After  that  we  went  to  see  Her  Maj- 
esty. She  was  aw^ake,  so  we  went  into  her  bed- 
room. We  greeted  her  the  same  way  that  we  did 
every  morning,  and  kowtowed  to  her  and  thanked 
her  for  all  the  things  she  had  sent  us  while  we 
were  at  home.  She  sat  up  on  the  bed,  smiled, 
and  said:  “Are  you  glad  to  come  back?  I know 
everyone  who  comes  to  me  and  stays  for  a while 
does  not  like  to  go  away  from  here  any  more.  I 
am  glad  to  see  you  (to  my  mother) . How  is  Yii 
Keng?”  My  mother  told  her  that  my  father 
was  much  better.  She  asked  us  what  we  did  for 
those  two  days,  staying  at  home.  She  also 
wanted  to  know  whether  we  still  remembered 


152  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


which  day  she  had  chosen  for  us  to  change  into 
our  Manchu  costume.  We  told  her  we  knew  the 
date,  and  were  looking  forward  to  it.  The 
eunuchs  brought  in  three  large  yellow  trays,  full 
of  beautiful  gowns,  shoes,  white  silk  socks,  hand- 
kerchiefs, bags  for  nuts,  in  fact  the  whole  set, 
including  the  gu’un  dzan  (Manchu  headdress). 
We  kowtowed  to  her,  and  told  her  we  were  very 
much  pleased  with  everything  she  had  given 
us.  Pier  Majesty  told  the  eunuchs  to  bring 
everything  out  for  us  to  see.  She  said  to  us: 
“You  see  I give  you  one  full  official  dress,  one  set 
of  Chao  Chu  (amber  heads),  two  embroidered 
gowns,  four  ordinary  gowns  for  everyday  wear, 
and  two  gowns  for  Chi  Chen  wear  (the  anniver- 
sary of  the  death  of  an  Emperor  or  Empress), 
one  sky  blue,  the  other  mauve,  with  very  little 
trimming.  I also  have  a lot  of  underwear  for 
you.”  I was  excited  and  told  Her  Majesty  that 
I would  like  to  commence  to  dress  up  at  once. 
She  smiled,  and  said:  “You  must  wait  until  the 
day  comes,  the  lucky  day  I have  selected  for  you. 
You  must  try  to  fix  your  hair  first,  which  is  the 
most  difficult  thing  to  do.  Ask  the  Young 
Empress  to  teach  you.”  Although  she  told  me 
to  wait,  I knew  she  was  pleased  to  see  that  I 
showed  so  much  enthusiasm.  She  asked  me  the 
first  day  when  we  came  to  the  Court  why  my 
hair  was  so  curly.  I showed  her  that  I curled 


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it  with  paper,  and  she  teased  me  ever  afterwards. 
She  also  said  that  I could  not  pull  my  hair 
straight  in  time  to  wear  Manchu  clothes,  that 
everyone  would  laugh  at  me,  and  how  ugly  I 
would  look.  That  night  one  Court  lady  came 
over  to  me  while  I was  sitting  on  the  veranda 
and  said:  “I  wonder  if  you  will  look  nice  in 
Manchu  dress?”  I told  her  I only  wanted  to 
look  natural.  “You  have  lived  so  many  years 
abroad  we  consider  you  are  a foreigner  to  us.” 
I told  her  that  as  long  as  Her  Majesty  consid- 
ered I was  one  of  her  own,  I would  be  satisfied 
and  that  she  need  not  worry  herself  about  me.  I 
knew  they  were  jealous  of  us,  so  I went  in  search 
of  the  Young  Empress  and  left  this  girl  alone. 
We  were  talking  with  the  Young  Empress  in  the 
waitingroom,  and  this  girl  came  in  and  sat  near 
me,  smiling  to  herself  most  of  the  time.  One  of 
the  servant  girls  was  fixing  some  fresh  flowers 
for  Her  Majesty.  She  looked  at  her  and  asked 
her  why  she  was  smiling.  The  Young  Empress 
saw,  and  asked  her  the  same  question.  She 
would  not  answer,  but  kept  on  smiling  all  the 
time.  At  this  moment  a eunuch  came  and  said 
that  Her  Majesty  wanted  me.  I afterwards 
tried  to  find  out  what  she  had  told  the  Young 
Empress  but  could  not.  Several  days  passed 
very  quietly.  Her  Majesty  was  happy,  and  so 
was  I.  One  day  the  Young  Empress  reminded 


154  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


us  that  we  should  make  all  preparations  in  or- 
der to  be  able  to  dress  ourselves  properly  on  the 
eighteenth,  as  the  time  was  getting  short — only 
two  days  left.  That  night,  after  Her  Majesty 
had  retired,  I went  to  my  own  room  and  fixed 
my  headdress  on  and  went  to  see  the  Young 
Empress.  She  said  that  I looked  very  nice,  and 
that  she  was  sure  Her  Majesty  would  like  me 
better  in  Manchu  costume.  I told  her  that  I 
used  to  wear  Manchu  dress  when  I was  a little 
girl,  before  we  went  to  Europe,  and  of  course  I 
knew  how  to  put  it  on.  I also  told  her  that  I 
could  not  understand  why  these  girls  looked 
upon  me  as  a foreigner.  She  said  that  they  only 
showed  their  ignorance,  and  that  they  were 
jealous  of  me  and  I should  not  pay  any  attention 
to  them  at  all. 


CHAPTER  ELEVEN 


OUR  COSTUMES 

The  next  day  we  got  up  earlier  than  usual  and 
dressed  ourselves  in  our  new  gowns.  I could  not 
believe  my  own  eyes,  and  asked  several  times 
whether  that  was  myself  or  not.  I found  that 
I looked  all  right,  although  I hadn’t  been  wear- 
ing this  sort  of  costume  for  so  long.  - They 
seemed  to  think  that  we  would  look  awkward. 
Our  own  eunuchs  were  delighted  to  see  us  dressed 
that  way.  The  Young  Empress  came  in  while 
passing  our  rooms  on  her  way  to  the  Empress 
Dowager’s  Palace,  and  waited  for  us  to  go  with 
her.  When  we  arrived  at  the  waitingroom  a lot 
of  people  came  in  and  looked  at  us,  and  talked 
so  much  about  us,  that  it  made  me  feel  rather 
shy.  Everyone  told  us  that  we  looked  much  bet- 
ter that  way  than  in  foreign  clothes,  except  the 
Emperor  Kwang  Hsu.  He  said  to  me:  “I 

think  your  Parisian  gowns  are  far  prettier  than 
this.”  I smiled  and  said  nothing.  He  shook 
his  head  at  me,  and  went  into  Her  Majesty’s 
bedroom.  Li  Lien  Ying  came  and  saw  us,  and 
was  very  much  excited  and  told  me  to  go  and 


156  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


see  Her  Majesty  at  once.  I told  him  that 
everyone  was  looking  at  us,  as  if  we  were  curios. 
He  said:  “You  don’t  know  how  nice  you 
look  now,  and  I wish  that  you  would  not  wear 
foreign  clothes  at  all.”  Her  Majesty  laughed 
so  loud  when  she  saw  us  that  it  made  me  uncom- 
fortable, for  I was  afraid  we  looked  unnatural 
to  her.  She  said:  “I  cannot  believe  you  are  the 
same  girls.  Just  look  at  yourselves  in  this  look- 
ing-glass.” She  pointed  to  a large  mirror  in  her 
room.  “See  how  you  have  changed.  I feel  that 
you  belong  to  me  now.  I must  have  some  more 
gowns  made  for  you.”  Then  Li  Lien  Ying  said 
that  the  twenty-fourth  would  be  the  first  day  of 
the  Summer.  On  that  day  everyone  would  be- 
gin to  wear  jade  hairpins  instead  of  gold,  and  we 
had  none.  Her  Majesty  said  to  Li:  “I  am  very 
glad  you  told  me  that.  I must  give  them  each  a 
jade  hairpin  after  having  asked  them  to  change 
into  Manchu  dress.”  Li  went  away  and  came 
back  with  a box  of  hairpins  of  pure  green 
jade.  Her  Majesty  took  a beautiful  one  and 
handed  it  to  my  mother  and  told  her  that  that 
pin  had  been  worn  by  three  Empresses.  She 
took  two  very  nice  ones,  and  gave  one  to  me  and 
one  to  my  sister.  She  told  us  that  these  two 
were  a pair,  and  that  the  other  Empress  Dow- 
ager (the  East  Empress  Dowager)  used  to  wear 
one,  and  that  the  other  was  worn  by  herself  when 


OUR  COSTUMES 


157 


she  was  young.  I felt  ashamed  that  Her 
Majesty  had  given  us  so  many  presents  and  I 
had  done  nothing  for  her  in  any  way.  How- 
ever, we  thanked  her  most  sincerely,  and  showed 
our  appreciation.  She  said:  “I  look  upon  you 
as  my  own  people,  and  the  gowns  I have  made 
for  you  are  the  very  best.  I have  also  decided  to 
let  you  wear  the  full  Court  dress,  the  same  as  one 
of  the  Princesses.  You  are  my  Court  lady,  so 
you  are  equally  ranked  here.”  Li  stood  there 
behind  her  and  made  a sign  to  us  to  kowtow  to 
her.  I cannot  remember  how  many  times  I kow- 
towed that  day.  The  headdress  was  very  heavy, 
and  I was  not  quite  used  to  it;  I was  afraid  it 
might  fall  off.  Her  Majesty  also  said  that  she 
would  make  our  rank  known  to  the  Court  on  her 
seventieth  birthday.  I will  explain  this.  On 
every  decade  from  the  time  of  her  birth  Her 
Majesty  used  to  give  special  favors  to  anyone 
she  liked,  or  to  anyone  who  had  done  something 
for  her,  and  had  been  useful  to  her.  She  could 
promote  anyone  at  any  time,  but  on  these  occa- 
sions it  was  something  special.  The  Young 
Empress  congratulated  us,  and  said  that  Her 
Majesty  was  looking  for  a young  Prince  to 
marry  me.  She  was  also  very  fond  of  teasing. 
I wrote  to  my  father  about  all  the  favors  that 
had  been  given  to  me.  He  wrote  me  he  hoped 
that  I deserved  them  all,  and  that  I must  do  all 


158  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


I could  to  be  useful  and  loyal  to  Her  Majesty 
as  long  as  she  lived. 

I was  very  happy.  Life  was  perfectly  lovely 
at  the  Palace.  Her  Majesty  was  always  nice 
and  kind.  I noticed  the  difference  in  the  way 
she  had  treated  us  since  (as  she  said)  we  had 
become  Manchus  once  more.  One  day  Her 
Majesty  asked  me  while  we  were  sailing  on  the 
lake  in  the  moonlight,  if  I wanted  to  go  to  Europe 
any  more.  It  was  a superb  night,  and  several 
boats  were  sailing  behind  us.  In  one  boat  sev- 
eral eunuchs  were  playing  a kind  of  sweet  music 
on  the  flute  and  an  instrument  very  much  like 
the  mandolin,  called  Yeuh  Chin  (small  harp, 
like  the  shape  of  the  moon),  with  Her  Majesty 
singing  very  softly  to  herself.  I told  her  I was 
satisfied  to  be  with  her,  and  did  not  wish  to  go 
anywhere  at  all.  She  said  that  I must  learn  to 
sing  poetry  and  that  she  would  teach  me  every 
day.  I told  her  that  my  father  had  made  me 
study  all  kinds  of  poetry  and  I had  composed 
some  myself.  She  looked  surprised  and  said: 
“Why  didn’t  you  tell  me  that  before?  I love 
poems.  You  must  read  to  me  sometimes.  I 
have  many  books  here  containing  poems  of  differ- 
ent dynasties.”  I told  her  that  my  knowledge 
of  Chinese  literature  was  very  limited,  and  I 
dared  not  let  her  see  how  little  I knew.  I had 
only  studied  eight  years.  Her  Majesty  told 


OUR  COSTUMES 


159 


me  that  the  Young  Empress  and  herself  were 
the  only  ones  who  were  familiar  with  Chinese  lit- 
erature at  the  Court.  She  told  me  that  she 
tried  to  teach  the  Court  ladies  to  read  and  write 
some  time  ago,  but  having  found  them  so  lazy 
she  gave  them  up.  My  father  told  me  to  be  very 
careful  not  to  show  them  what  I could  do  until 
I was  asked,  so  I kept  it  to  myself.  After  they 
found  this  out,  some  of  the  Court  ladies  were 
very  disagreeable  to  me,  and  this  went  on  day 
after  day. 

Except  for  this  unpleasantness  the  fourth 
moon  passed  very  agreeably.  The  first  day  of 
the  fifth  moon  was  a busy  day  for  us  all,  as  from 
the  first  to  the  fifth  of  the  fifth  moon  was  the 
festival  of  five  poisonous  insects,  which  I will 
explain  later — also  called  the  Dragon  Boat  F es- 
tival. All  the  Viceroys,  Governors  and  high 
officials,  besides  the  Imperial  Family,  Court 
ladies  and  eunuchs,  all  offer  Her  Majesty  beau- 
tiful presents.  I never  saw  such  a lot  of  things 
as  came  into  the  Palace  during  this  festival. 
Each  person  who  sent  in  presents  must  accom- 
pany them  with  a sheet  of  yellow  paper,  and  at 
the  right  lower  corner  the  sender’s  name  must  be 
written  and  also  the  word  Kuai  Jin,  meaning  to 
present  their  gifts  kneeling,  also  to  write  what 
the  presents  were.  The  eunuchs  took  big  yel- 
low trays  to  bring  them  in.  During  these  five 


160  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


days  everyone  was  busy,  especially  the  eunuchs. 
I could  not  count  just  how  many  people  sent 
presents  to  Her  Majesty.  The  presents  were  of 
every  kind,  such  as  things  for  the  household ; silks 
and  jewelry  of  all  kinds  and  description.  A 
large  part  of  the  presents  were  foreign  goods 
of  the  ordinary  kind.  I also  saw  lovely  carved 
thrones  and  embroideries.  Her  Majesty  ordered 
them  to  be  put  away,  and  the  foreign  things  to 
be  kept  in  her  Palace,  for  those  were  new  to  her. 

The  third  day  of  the  fifth  moon  was  the  day 
for  just  the  people  of  the  Palace  to  make  pres- 
ents. It  was  a most  beautiful  sight  to  see.  We 
were  busy  all  night  making  preparations,  and 
had  to  go  and  help  the  Young  Empress.  The 
next  morning  we  placed  our  presents  in  the  big 
courtyard  in  these  big  yellow  trays.  The 
Young  Empress  had  her  trays  in  the  first  row. 
The  presents  from  the  Young  Empress  to  the 
Empress  Dowager  were  made  by  her  own  hands. 
There  were  ten  pairs  of  shoes,  silk  embroid- 
ered handkerchiefs,  little  bags  for  betel  nuts, 
and  bags  for  tobacco,  all  exquisitely  done.  The 
Secondary  wife  of  the  Emperor  Kwang  Hsu 
presented  about  the  same  to  Her  Majesty.  The 
Court  ladies’  presents  were  all  different,  as  we 
could  ask  permission  to  go  out  shopping  before 
the  Feast.  We  could  not  go  out  together,  for 
one  or  two  of  us  must  be  there  at  all  times,  and 


OUR  COSTUMES 


161 


it  was  very  exciting  to  tell  each  other  what 
we  had  bought.  We  ourselves  did  not  ask  per- 
mission to  go  out  of  the  Palace,  for  we  had 
our  presents  ready  long  before.  Everyone 
seemed  to  be  talking  about  presents,  whether 
Her  Majesty  would  like  them  or  not.  My 
mother,  my  sister  and  myself  had  written  to 
Paris  to  get  some  lovely  French  brocades,  one 
set  of  furniture,  French  Empire  style.  We  had 
learned  Her  Majesty’s  taste  already  during  our 
short  stay  there,  so  including  those  presents  we 
also  gave  her  fans,  perfumes,  soaps  and  some 
other  French  novelties.  Her  Majesty  always 
looked  over  everything,  and  noticed  some  of  the 
presents  were  of  very  poor  quality,  and  wanted 
to  know  the  sender’s  name.  The  eunuchs  and 
servant  girls  also  made  her  good  and  useful  pres- 
ents. Her  Majesty  would  select  the  articles  she 
liked  the  best,  and  order  the  rest  to  be  put 
away,  and  she  might  never  see  them  again.  I 
must  say  that  Her  Majesty  liked  and  admired 
some  foreign  things  very  much,  she  especially 
loved  the  French  fancy  brocades,  for  she  was 
making  new  gowns  almost  every  day.  She  was 
also  pleased  with  soaps  and  powder  that  would 
beautify  the  skin.  She  always  thanked  us  in  a 
very  nice  way  and  said  how  very  thoughtful  we 
were  in  selecting  beautiful  articles  for  her.  Her 
Majesty  would  also  say  something  nice  to  the 


162  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


eunuchs  and  girls,  and  that  made  everyone  feel 
pleased. 

The  fourth  day  of  the  fifth  moon  was  the  day 
that  Her  Majesty  gave  presents  to  us  all,  the 
different  Princes,  high  officials,  servant  girls  and 
eunuchs.  Her  memory  was  something  extraor- 
dinary, for  she  could  remember  every  one  of  the 
presents  that  had  been  given  to  her  the  day 
before,  and  the  names  of  the  givers  also.  That 
was  a busy  day  for  us.  Her  Majesty  gave 
people  presents  according  to  the  way  they  gave 
her.  We  had  yellow  sheets  of  paper  and  wrote 
out  the  names  of  those  to  whom  she  wished 
to  give.  That  day  Her  Majesty  was  very  angry 
with  one  of  the  wives  of  a certain  Prince  because 
her  presents  were  the  poorest.  Her  Majesty 
told  me  to  keep  that  tray  in  her  room  and  said 
she  would  go  over  them  and  see  what  they  were. 
I knew  she  was  not  pleased,  for  she  had  a 
telltale  face.  She  told  us  to  measure  the  silks 
and  ribbons  in  that  tray,  and  leave  it  in  the  hall. 
The  ribbons  were  all  of  different  lengths,  all  too 
short  to  trim  a gown,  and  the  dress  materials 
were  not  of  good  quality.  Her  Majesty  said 
to  me:  “Now  you  look  for  yourself.  Are  these 
good  presents?  I know  very  well  all  these 
things  were  given  to  them  by  other  people  and 
they  of  course  would  select  the  best  for  them- 
selves, and  give  me  what  was  left.  They  know 


OUR  COSTUMES 


163 


they  are  obliged  to  send  me  something.  I 
am  surprised  to  see  how  careless  they  are. 
Probably  they  thought  as  I receive  so  many 
presents  I would  not  notice.  They  are  mis- 
taken, for  I notice  the  poorest  the  first,  in  fact 
I can  remember  everything.  I can  see  those  who 
gave  me  things  in  order  to  please  me,  and  those 
who  gave  because  they  were  obliged  to.  I will 
return  them  the  same  way.”  She  gave  the 
Court  ladies  each  a beautiful  embroidered  gown 
and  a few  hundred  taels,  the  same  to  the  Young 
Empress  and  the  Secondary  wife.  The  pres- 
ents which  she  gave  us  were  a little  different, 
consisting  of  two  embroidered  gowns,  several 
simple  ones,  jackets  and  sleeveless  jackets,  shoes, 
and  flowers  for  the  Manchu  headdress.  She 
said  that  we  had  not  so  many  gowns,  and  instead 
of  giving  us  the  money,  she  had  things  made  for 
us.  Besides  that,  she  gave  me  a pair  of  very 
pretty  earrings,  but  none  to  my  sister,  for  she 
noticed  that  I had  a pair  of  ordinary  gold  ear- 
rings, while  my  sister  had  a pair  set  with  pearls 
and  jade.  Her  Majesty  said  to  my  mother: 
“Yu  Tai  Tai.  I can  see  you  love  one  daughter 
better  than  the  other.  Roonling  has  such  pretty 
earrings  and  poor  Derling  has  none.”  Before 
my  mother  could  answer  her  she  had  turned  to 
me  while  I was  standing  at  the  back  of  her  chair : 
“I  will  have  a nice  pair  made  for  you.  You  are 


164;  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


mine  now.”  My  mother  told  her  that  I did  not 
like  to  wear  heavy  earrings.  Her  Majesty 
laughed  and  said:  “Never  mind,  she  is  mine  now, 
and  I will  give  her  everything  she  needs.  You 
have  nothing  to  do  with  her.”  The  earrings  she 
gave  me  were  very  heavy.  Her  Majesty  said 
that  if  I would  wear  them  every  day  I would  get 
used  to  them,  and  so  it  proved  that  after  some 
time  I thought  nothing  of  it. 

Now  about  this  Feast.  It  is  also  called  the 
Dragon  Boat  Feast.  The  fifth  of  the  fifth 
moon  at  noon  was  the  most  poisonous  hour  for 
the  poisonous  insects,  and  reptiles  such  as  frogs, 
lizards,  snakes,  hide  themselves  in  the  mud,  for 
that  hour  they  are  paralyzed.  Some  medical 
men  search  for  them  at  that  hour  and  place  them 
in  jars,  and  when  they  are  dried,  sometime  use 
them  as  medicine.  Her  Majesty  told  me  this, 
so  that  day  I went  all  over  everywhere  and  dug 
into  the  ground,  but  found  nothing.  The  usual 
custom  was  that  at  noon  Her  Majesty  took  a 
small  cup  filled  with  spirits  of  wine,  and  added 
a kind  of  yellow  powder  (something  like  sul- 
phur). She  took  a small  brush  and  dipped  it 
into  the  cup  and  made  a few  spots  of  this  yel- 
low paint  under  our  nostrils  and  ears.  This 
was  to  prevent  any  insects  from  crawling  on  us 
during  the  coming  summer.  The  reason  why 
it  was  also  called  the  Dragon  Boat  Festival  was 


OUR  COSTUMES 


165 


because  at  the  time  of  the  Chou  Dynasty  the 
country  was  divided  into  several  parts.  Each 
place  had  a ruler.  The  Emperor  Chou  had  a 
Prime  Minister  named  Chi  Yuan,  who  advised 
him  to  make  alliance  with  the  other  six  coun- 
tries, but  the  Emperor  refused,  and  Chi  Yuan 
thought  that  the  country  would  be  taken  by  oth- 
ers in  the  near  future.  He  could  not  influence 
the  Emperor,  so  he  made  up  his  mind  to  commit 
suicide  and  jumped  into  the  river,  taking  a 
large  piece  of  stone  with  him.  This  happened 
on  the  fifth  day  of  the  fifth  moon,  so  the  year 
afterwards,  the  Emperor  got  into  a Dragon  boat 
to  worship  his  soul,  and  throw  rice  cakes,  called 
Tzu  Tsi,  into  the  river.  On  that  day  the  people 
have  celebrated  this  feast  ever  since.  At  the 
Palace  the  theatre  played  first  this  history,  which 
was  very  interesting,  and  also  played  the  insects 
trying  to  hide  themselves  before  the  most  poison- 
ous hour  arrived.  On  that  day  we  all  wore  tiger 
shoes,  the  front  part  of  which  was  made  of  a 
tiger’s  head,  with  little  tigers  made  of  yellow  silk 
to  wear  on  the  headdress.  These  tigers  were 
only  for  the  children  to  wear,  and  signified  that 
they  would  be  as  strong  as  a tiger,  but  Her 
Majesty  wanted  us  to  wear  them  also.  The 
wives  of  the  Manehu  officials  came  to  the  Court, 
and  when  they  saw  us  they  laughed  at  us.  We 
told  them  it  was  by  Her  Majesty’s  orders. 


166  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


A register  recording  the  birthdays  of  all  the 
Court  ladies  was  kept  by  the  head  eunuch,  and 
a few  days  before  my  own  birthday  came  around, 
the  tenth  day  of  the  fifth  moon,  he  informed  me 
that  the  custom  of  the  Court  was  to  make  a pres- 
ent to  Her  Majesty  and  said  that  the  present 
should  take  the  form  of  fruit,  cakes,  etc.,  so  I or- 
dered eight  boxes  of  different  kinds. 

Early  in  the  morning  I put  on  full  Court  dress, 
and  made  myself  look  as  nice  as  possible  and 
went  to  wish  Her  Majesty  good  morning. 
When  she  had  finished  dressing,  the  eunuchs 
brought  in  the  presents  and,  kneeling,  I pre- 
sented them  to  Her  Majesty,  bowing  to  the 
ground  nine  times.  She  thanked  me  and  wished 
me  a happy  birthday.  She  then  made  me  a pres- 
ent of  a pair  of  sandalwood  bracelets,  beautifully 
carved,  also  a few  rolls  of  brocade  silk.  She 
also  informed  me  that  she  had  ordered  some 
macaroni  in  honor  of  my  birthday.  This  maca- 
roni is  called  (Chang  Shou  Me’en)  long  life 
macaroni.  This  was  the  custom.  I again  bowed 
and  thanked  her  for  her  kindness  and  thought- 
fulness. After  bowing  to  the  Young  Empress 
and  receiving  in  return  two  pairs  of  shoes  and 
several  embroidered  neckties,  I returned  to  my 
room,  where  I found  presents  from  all  the  Court 
ladies. 

Altogether  I had  a very  happy  birthday. 


OUR  COSTUMES 


167 


I can  never  forget  the  fifteenth  day  of  the 
fifth  moon  as  long  as  I live,  for  that  was  a bad 
day  for  everyone.  As  usual  we  went  to  Her 
Majesty’s  bedroom  quite  early  that  morning. 
She  could  not  get  up  and  complained  that  her 
back  ached  so  much.  We  rubbed  her  back,  in 
turns,  and  finally  she  got  up,  though  a little  late. 
She  was  not  satisfied.  The  Emperor  came  in  and 
knelt  down  to  wish  her  good  morning,  but  she 
scarcely  took  any  notice  of  him.  I noticed  that 
when  the  Emperor  saw  that  Her  Majesty  was 
not  well,  he  said  very  little  to  her.  The  eunuch 
who  dressed  her  hair  every  morning  was  ill,  and 
had  ordered  another  one  to  help  her.  Her 
Majesty  told  us  to  watch  him  very  closely  to  see 
that  he  did  not  pull  her  hair  off.  She  could  not 
bear  to  see  even  one  or  two  hairs  fall  out.  This 
eunuch  was  not  used  to  trickery,  for  instance, 
in  case  the  hair  was  falling  off,  he  could  not  hide 
it  like  the  other  one  did.  This  poor  man  did  not 
know  what  to  do  with  any  that  came  out.  He 
was  frightened,  and  Her  Majesty,  seeing  him 
through  the  mirror,  asked  him  whether  he  had 
pulled  her  hair  out.  He  said  that  he  had.  This 
made  her  furious,  and  she  told  him  to  replace  it. 
I almost  laughed,  but  the  eunuch  was  very  much 
frightened  and  started  to  cry.  Her  Majesty  or- 
dered him  to  leave  the  room,  and  said  she  would 
punish  him  later.  We  helped  her  to  fix  up  her 


168  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


hair.  I must  say  it  was  not  an  easy  job,  for 
she  had  very  long  hair  and  it  was  difficult  to 
comb. 

She  went  to  the  morning  audience,  as  usual, 
and  after  that  she  told  the  head  eunuch  what  had 
happened.  This  Li  was  indeed  a bad  and  cruel 
man,  and  said:  “Why  not  beat  him  to  death?” 
Immediately  she  ordered  Li  to  take  this  man  to 
his  own  quarters  to  receive  punishment.  Then 
Her  Majesty  said  the  food  was  bad,  and  or- 
dered the  cooks  to  be  punished  also.  They 
told  me  that  whenever  Her  Majesty  was  angry 
everything  went  wrong,  so  I was  not  surprised 
that  so  many  things  happened  that  day.  Her 
Majesty  said  that  we  all  looked  too  vain  with 
our  hair  too  low  down  at  the  back  of  the  head. 
(This  Manchu  headdress  is  placed  right  in  the 
center  of  one’s  head  and  the  back  part  is  called 
the  swallow’s  tail,  and  must  reach  the  bottom 
part  of  one’s  collar.)  We  had  our  hair  done  up 
the  same  way  every  day,  and  she  had  previously 
never  said  a word  about  it.  She  looked  at  us, 
and  said:  “]Now  I am  going  to  the  audience,  and 
don’t  need  you  all  here.  Go  back  to  your  rooms 
and  fix  your  hair  all  over  again.  If  I ever  see 
you  all  like  that  again  I am  going  to  cut  your 
hair  off.”  I was  never  more  surprised  in  my  life 
when  I heard  her  speak  so  sharply  to  us.  I 
don’t  know  whether  I was  spoken  to  or  not,  but 


OUR  COSTUMES 


169 


I thought  it  well  to  be  wise,  and  I answered  I 
would.  We  were  all  ready  to  go  and  Her  Maj- 
esty stood  there  watching  us.  When  we  were 
about  five  or  six  feet  away  we  heard  her  scolding 
Chun  Shou  (the  girl  who  was  neither  a Court 
lady  nor  a servant).  Her  Majesty  said  she  was 
pretending  she  was  all  right,  and  Her  Majesty 
ordered  her  to  go  also.  When  we  were  walking 
towards  our  own  place,  some  of  them  laughed  at 
Chun  Shou,  which  made  her  angry.  When  Her 
Majesty  was  angry  with  anyone,  she  would  say 
that  we  were  all  doing  something  on  purpose  to 
make  her  angry.  I must  say  that  everyone  of 
us  was  scared,  and  wondered  who  would  have 
dared  to  do  that.  On  the  contrary,  we  tried  our 
best  to  please  her  in  every  way. 

But  that  day  she  was  furious  all  day  and  I 
tried  to  stay  away  from  her.  I noticed  some  of 
the  eunuchs  went  to  her  to  ask  questions  con- 
cerning important  matters,  but  she  would  not 
look  at  them,  but  kept  on  reading  her  book.  To 
tell  the  truth,  I felt  miserable  that  day.  At  the 
beginning  I thought  all  the  eunuchs  were  faith- 
ful servants,  but  seeing  them  every  day,  I got 
to  know  them.  It  did  not  do  them  any  harm  to 
be  punished  once  in  a while. 

The  Young  Empress  told  me  to  go  in  and 
wait  on  Her  Majesty  as  usual.  She  said  that 
probably  if  I would  suggest  playing  dice  with 


170  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


her,  she  might  forget  her  troubles.  At  first  I 
did  not  want  to  go,  for  I was  afraid  that  she 
might  say  something  to  me,  hut  seeing  that  the 
poor  Young  Empress  spoke  to  me  so  nicely,  I 
told  her  I would  try.  When  I entered  Her 
Majesty’s  sitting  room  I found  her  reading  a 
hook.  She  looked  at  me  and  said:  “Come  over 
here,  I would  like  to  tell  you  something.  You 
know  these  people  at  the  Palace  are  no  good  and 
I don’t  like  them  at  all.  I don’t  want  them  to 
poison  your  ears  by  telling  you  how  wicked  I 
am.  Don’t  talk  to  them.  You  must  not  fix 
your  hair  too  low  down  at  the  back  of  your  head. 
I was  not  angry  with  you  this  morning.  I know 
you  are  different.  Don’t  let  them  influence  you. 
I want  you  to  be  on  my  side,  and  do  as  I tell 
you.”  Her  Majesty  spoke  very  kindly  to  me, 
and  her  face  changed  also — not  at  all  the 
same  face  she  had  that  morning.  Of  course  I 
promised  her  that  I would  be  only  too  happy 
to  do  all  I could  to  please  her.  She  spoke  to 
me  just  like  a good  mother  vTould  speak  to  a 
dear  child.  I changed  my  opinion  and  thought 
that  perhaps  after  all  she  wras  right,  but  I had 
often  heard  from  the  officials  that  one  cannot 
be  good  to  a eunuch,  as  he  w’ould  do  all  he  could 
to  injure  you  without  any  reason  whatsoever. 

I noticed  that  day  they  all  seemed  to  be  more 
careful  in  doing  their  work.  I was  told  that 


OUR  COSTUMES 


171 


when  once  Her  Majesty  got  angry,  she  would 
never  finish.  On  the  contrary,  she  talked  to  me 
very  nicely,  just  as  if  there  had  been  no  troubles 
at  all.  She  was  not  difficult  to  wait  upon,  only 
one  had  to  watch  her  moods.  I thought  how 
fascinating  she  was,  and  I had  already  forgotten 
that  she  had  been  angry.  She  seemed  to  have 
guessed  what  I was  thinking,  and  said:  “I  can 
make  people  hate  me  worse  than  poison,  and  can 
also  make  them  love  me.  I have  that  power.” 
I thought  she  was  right  there. 


CHAPTER  TWELVE 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  MRS.  CONGER 

On  the  twenty-sixth  day  of  the  fifth  moon, 
during  the  morning  audience,  Prince  Ching  told 
Her  Majesty  that  Mrs.  Conger,  the  wife  of  the 
American  Minister  to  Peking,  had  asked  for  a 
private  audience,  and  would  Her  Majesty  please 
mention  a day.  She  told  him  not  to  give  any 
answer  until  the  next  day,  just  to  give  her  time 
to  think  it  over.  I was  sitting  behind  the  large 
screen,  listening,  but  the  other  Court  ladies 
made  too  much  noise,  so  Her  Majesty  ordered 
them  not  to  say  a word  during  audience.  I 
was  very  glad  myself,  because  I could  listen 
to  some  of  the  interesting  conversations  between 
the  Empress  Dowager  and  her  Ministers.  After 
the  audience,  Her  Majesty  ordered  her  lunch  to 
be  served  on  the  top  of  the  hill  at  Pai  Yuen  Dien 
(Spreading  Cloud  Pavilion).  She  said  that  she 
preferred  to  walk,  so  we  followed  her  very  slowly. 
To  get  to  this  place  we  had  to  mount  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy-two  steps,  besides  ten  minutes’ 
climbing  over  rough  stones.  She  did  not  seem 
to  mind  the  climbing  part  at  all.  It  was  the 

172 


Bridge  at  the  Summer  Palace 


I 


The  Jade  Girdle  Bridge — Summer  Palace 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  MRS.  CONGER  173 


funniest  thing  to  see  two  little  eunuchs  on  either 
side,  to  support  her  arms,  trying  to  keep  pace 
with  her.  I noticed  that  she  was  very  much 
preoccupied,  and  did  not  speak  to  any  of  us. 
When  we  arrived  at  our  destination  we  were 
very  tired  and  quite  exhausted.  Her  Majesty, 
who  was  a good  walker  herself,  laughed  at  us. 
She  was  always  very  much  pleased  when  she 
excelled  in  games  of  skill  or  endurance.  She 
said:  “You  see  I am  old,  and  can  walk  much 
faster  than  you  young  people.  You  are  all  no 
use.  What  is  the  matter  with  you?”  Her 
Majesty  was  very  fond  of  receiving  compliments. 
I had  been  there  long  enough  to  know  and  had 
learned  to  say  things  which  would  please  her. 
She  also  hated  anyone  to  pay  her  compliments  at 
the  wrong  moment,  so  one  had  to  be  very  careful 
even  in  paying  her  compliments. 

This  “spreading  cloud”  pavilion  was  a beau- 
tiful Palace.  It  had  an  open  space  in  front  of 
the  building,  just  like  one  of  the  courtyards,  with 
pink  and  white  oleanders  all  over  the  place. 
There  was  a porcelain  table  and  several  porcelain 
stools.  Her  Majesty  sat  on  her  own  yellow 
satin  stool  and  was  drinking  her  tea  in  silence. 
It  was  very  windy  that  day,  although  the  sky 
was  blue  with  warm  sunshine.  Her  Majesty  sat 
there  just  for  a few  minutes,  and  then  said  it  was 
too  windy  and  went  into  the  building.  I was 


174.  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


more  than  glad  to  go  in,  too,  and  whispered  to  the 
Young  Empress  that  I thought  the  wind  might 
blow  off  my  headdress.  The  eunuchs  brought 
the  luncheon  and  placed  everything  upon  the 
table.  The  Young  Empress  made  a sign  for  us 
to  follow  her,  which  we  did.  When  we  came  to 
the  back  veranda  we  sat  down  on  the  window 
seats.  I will  explain  about  these  seats.  All  the 
windows  were  built  low  at  the  Palace,  and  on  the 
veranda  there  was  something  like  a bench  built 
along  the  window,  about  a foot  wide.  There 
wrere  no  chairs  to  be  seen  excepting  Her 
Majesty’s  thrones.  The  Young  Empress  asked 
me  whether  I had  noticed  that  Her  Majesty  had 
something  on  her  mind.  I told  her  that  perhaps 
she  was  thinking  about  the  private  audience  which 
Prince  Ching  had  mentioned  that  morning.  She 
said  that  I had  guessed  right,  and  asked:  “Do 
you  know  anything  about  this  audience?  When 
will  it  take  place?”  I said  that  Her  Majesty 
had  not  yet  given  her  answer. 

By  this  time  Her  Majesty  had  finished  eating 
and  was  walking  up  and  down  the  room,  watch- 
ing us  eating.  She  came  over  to  my  mother  and 
said:  “I  am  just  wondering  why  Mrs.  Conger 
asks  for  a private  audience.  Perhaps  she  has 
something  to  say  to  me.  I would  like  to  know 
just  what  it  is  so  I can  prepare  an  answer.” 
My  mother  said  that  probably  Airs.  Conger  had 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  MRS.  CONGER  175 


someone  visiting  her  who  wished  to  be  presented 
to  Her  Majesty.  “No,  it  can’t  be  that,  because 
they  must  give  the  list  of  names  of  those  who 
wish  to  come  to  the  Palace.  I don’t  mind  the 
formal  audiences,  but  I don’t  think  that  I should 
have  private  ones  at  all.  I don’t  like  to  be  ques- 
tioned, as  you  all  know.  The  foreigners  are,  of 
course,  very  nice  and  polite,  according  to  their 
own  way,  but  they  cannot  compare  with  us,  so  far 
as  etiquette  is  concerned.  I may  be  conservative 
in  saying  that  I admire  our  custom  and  will 
not  change  it  as  long  as  I live.  You  see  our 
people  are  taught  to  be  polite  from  their  earliest 
childhood,  and  just  look  back  at  the  oldest  teach- 
ings and  compare  them  with  the  new.  People 
seem  to  like  the  latter  the  best.  I mean  that  the 
new  idea  is  to  be  Christians,  to  chop  up  their 
Ancestral  Tablets  and  burn  them.  I know  many 
families  here  who  have  broken  up  because  of  the 
missionaries,  who  are  always  influencing  the 
young  people  to  believe  their  religion.  Now  I 
tell  you  why  I feel  uneasy  about  this  audience 
is  because  we  are  too  polite  to  refuse  anyone  who 
asks  any  favors  in  person.  The  foreigners  don’t 
seem  to  understand  that.  I’ll  tell  you  what  I 
will  do.  Whenever  they  ask  me  anything,  I’ll 
simply  tell  them  that  I am  not  my  own  boss,  but 
have  to  consult  with  my  Ministers;  that  although 
I am  the  Empress  Dowager  of  China,  I must 


176  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


also  obey  the  law.  To  tell  the  truth,  I like 
Madame  Uchida  (wife  of  the  Japanese  Minister 
to  Peking)  very  much.  She  is  always  very  nice 
and  doesn’t  ask  any  sill}’-  questions.  Of  course 
the  Japanese  are  very  much  like  ourselves,  not 
at  all  forward.  Last  year,  before  you  came  to 
the  Court,  a missionary  lady  came  with  Mrs. 
Conger,  and  suggested  that  I should  establish  a 
school  for  girls  at  the  Palace.  I did  not  like  to 
offend  her,  and  said  that  I would  take  it  into 
consideration.  Now,  just  imagine  it  for  a mo- 
ment. Wouldn’t  it  be  foolish  to  have  a school 
at  the  Palace ; besides,  where  am  I going  to  get  so 
many  girls  to  study?  I have  enough  to  do  as  it 
is.  I don’t  want  all  the  children  of  the  Imperial 
family  studying  at  my  Palace.” 

Her  Majesty  laughed  while  she  was  telling  us 
this,  and  everyone  else  laughed,  too.  She  said: 
“I  am  sure  you  will  laugh.  Mrs.  Conger  is  a 
very  nice  lady.  America  is  alwaj^s  very  friendly 
towards  China,  and  I appreciate  their  nice 
behavior  at  the  Palace  during  the  twenty- 
sixth  year  of  Kwang  IIsu  (1900),  but  I cannot 
say  that  I love  the  missionaries,  too.  Li  Lien 
Ying  told  me  that  these  missionaries  here  give 
the  Chinese  a certain  medicine,  and  that  after 
that  they  wish  to  become  Christians,  and  then 
they  would  pretend  to  tell  the  Chinese  to  think 
it  over  very  carefully,  for  they  would  never  force 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  MRS.  CONGER  177, 


anyone  to  believe  their  religion  against  their  own 
will.  Missionaries  also  take  the  poor  Chinese 
children  and  gouge  their  eyes  out,  and  use  them 
as  a kind  of  medicine.”  I told  her  that  that  was 
not  true;  that  I had  met  a great  many  mission- 
aries, and  that  they  were  very  kind-hearted  and 
willing  to  do  anything  to  help  the  poor  Chinese. 
I also  told  her  what  they  had  done  for  the  poor 
orphans — given  them  a home,  food  and  clothing; 
that  sometimes  they  went  into  the  interior  and 
found  the  blind  children  who  might  be  useless  to 
their  parents,  and  when  they  get  them  they  have 
to  support  them.  I know  several  cases  like  that. 
These  country  people  offer  their  deformed  chil- 
dren to  the  missionaries,  as  they  are  too  poor 
to  feed  and  take  care  of  them.  I told  her  about 
their  schools,  and  how  they  helped  the  poor  peo- 
ple. Her  Majesty  then  laughed,  and  said:  “Of 
course  I believe  what  you  say,  but  why  don’t 
these  missionaries  stay  in  their  own  country  and 
be  useful  to  their  own  people?”  I thought  it 
would  be  of  no  use  for  me  to  talk  too  much, 
but  at  the  same  time  I would  like  her  to  know 
of  the  dreadful  times  some  of  the  missionaries 
had  in  China.  Some  time  ago,  two  of  them 
were  murdered  at  Wu  Shuih,  in  June,  1892  (a 
little  below  Hankow),  the  church  being  burnt 
down  by  the  mob.  My  father  was  appointed  by 
Viceroy  Chang  Chili  Tung  to  investigate  the 


178  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


matter.  After  much  trouble  he  caught  three  of 
the  murderers  and,  according  to  the  Chinese  law, 
they  were  put  to  death  by  hanging  in  wooden 
cages,  and  the  Government  paid  an  indemnity 
to  the  families  of  the  murdered  missionaries. 
The  year  after,  1893,  a Catholic  church  was 
burnt  down  at  Mar  Cheng,  on  the  Yangtse, 
near  Ichang.  The  mob  said  they  saw  many 
blind  children  at  the  church,  who  were  made  to 
work  after  having  their  eyes  gouged  out.  The 
Prefect  of  Ichang  Province  said  it  was  true 
that  missionaries  did  get  the  Chinese  childrens’ 
eyes  for  making  medicine,  so  my  father  sug- 
gested having  those  blind  children  brought  into 
the  Yamen  and  ask  them.  The  Prefect  was 
a most  wicked  man,  and  was  very  anti-foreign 
also.  He  gave  the  poor  children  plenty  of  food, 
and  taught  them  to  say  that  the  missionaries  did 
gouge  their  eyes  out,  hut  when  they  were  brought 
in  the  next  day  they  said  that  the  missionaries 
treated  them  very  kindly  and  gave  them  a nice 
home,  good  food  and  clothing.  They  said  they 
were  blind  long  before  they  became  Catholics, 
and  also  said  that  the  Prefect  had  taught  them 
to  say  that  the  missionaries  were  cruel  to  them, 
which  was  not  true.  The  blind  children  begged 
to  go  back  to  the  school  and  said  that  they  were 
very  happy  there. 

Her  Majesty  said:  “That  may  be  all  right  for 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  MRS.  CONGER  179 


them  to  help  the  poor  and  relieve  their  suffering. 
For  instance,  like  our  great  Buddha  Ju  Lai,  who 
fed  the  hungry  birds  with  his  own  flesh.  I would 
love  them  if  they  would  leave  my  people  alone. 
Let  us  believe  our  own  religion.  Do  you  know 
how  the  Boxer  rising  began?  Why,  the  Chinese 
Christians  were  to  blame.  The  Boxers  were 
treated  badly  by  them,  and  wanted  revenge. 
Of  course  that  is  always  the  trouble  with  the 
low  class  of  people.  They  went  too  far,  and  at 
the  same  time  thought  to  make  themselves  rich 
by  setting  fire  to  every  house  in  Peking.  It 
made  no  difference  whose  house.  They  wanted 
to  burn  so  long  as  they  could  get  money.  These 
Chinese  Christians  are  the  worst  people  in  China. 
They  rob  the  poor  country  people  of  their  land 
and  property,  and  the  missionaries,  of  course, 
always  protect  them,  in  order  to  get  a share  them- 
selves. Whenever  a Chinese  Christian  is  taken 
to  the  Magistrate’s  Yamen,  he  is  not  supposed 
to  kneel  down  on  the  ground  and  obey  the  Chinese 
law,  as  others  do,  and  is  always  very  rude  to  his 
own  Government  Officials.  Then  these  mission- 
aries do  the  best  they  can  to  protect  him,  whether 
he  is  wrong  or  not,  and  believe  everything  he 
says  and  make  the  magistrate  set  the  prisoner 
free.  Do  you  remember  that  your  father  es- 
tablished rules  in  the  twenty-fourth  year  of 
Kwang  Hsu,  how  the  Chinese  officials  should 


180  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


treat  the  Bishops  whenever  they  had  dealings 
with  each  other?  I know  the  common  class  of 
people  become  Christians — also  those  who  are  in 
trouble — but  I don’t  believe  that  any  of  the  high 
officials  are  Christians.”  Her  Majesty  looked 
around  and  whispered:  “Kang  Yue  Wai  (the  re- 
former in  1898)  tried  to  make  the  Emperor  be- 
lieve that  religion.  No  one  shall  believe  as  long 
as  I live.  I must  say  that  I admire  the  foreigners 
in  some  ways.  For  instance,  their  navies  and 
armies,  and  engineers,  but  as  regards  civilization 
I should  say  that  China  is  the  first  country  by 
all  means.  I know  that  many  people  believe 
that  the  Government  had  connections  with  the 
Boxers,  but  that  is  not  true.  As  soon  as  we 
found  out  the  trouble  we  issued  several  Edicts, 
and  ordered  the  soldiers  to  drive  them  out,  but 
they  had  gone  too  far  already.  I made  up  my 
mind  not  to  go  out  of  the  Palace  at  all.  I am 
an  old  woman,  and  did  not  care  whether  I died 
or  not,  but  Prince  Tuang  and  Duke  Lan  sug- 
gested that  we  should  go  at  once.  They  also 
suggested  that  we  should  go  in  disguise,  which 
made  me  very  angry,  and  I refused.  After  the 
return  of  the  Court  to  Peking,  I was  told  that 
many  people  believed  that  I did  go  in  disguise, 
and  said  that  I was  dressed  in  one  of  my  servant’s 
clothes,  and  rode  in  a broken  cart  drawn  by  a 
mule,  and  that  this  old  woman  servant  of  mine 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  MRS.  CONGER  181 


was  dressed  as  the  Empress  Dowager,  and  rode 
in  my  sedan  chair.  I wonder  who  made  that 
story  up?  Of  course  everyone  believed  it,  and 
such  a stoiy  would  get  to  the  foreigners  in  Peking 
without  any  trouble. 

“Now  to  come  back  to  the  question  of  the 
Boxer  Rising.  How  badly  I was  treated  by  my 
own  servants.  No  one  seemed  anxious  to  go  with 
me,  and  a great  many  ran  away  before  the  Court 
had  any  idea  of  leaving  the  Capital  at  all,  and 
those  who  stayed  would  not  work,  but  stood 
around  and  waited  to  see  what  was  going  to 
happen.  I made  up  my  mind  to  ask  and  see 
how  many  would  be  willing  to  go,  so  I said 
to  everyone:  ‘If  you  servants  are  willing  to  go 
with  me,  you  can  do  so,  and  those  who  are  not 
willing,  can  leave  me.’  I was  very  much  sur- 
prised to  find  that  there  were  very  few  standing 
around  listening.  Only  seventeen  eunuchs,  two 
old  women  servants  and  one  servant  girl,  that  was 
Sho  Chu.  Those  people  said  they  would  go  with 
me,  no  matter  what  happened.  I had  3,000 
eunuchs,  but  they  were  nearly  all  gone  before 
I had  the  chance  of  counting  them.  Some  of 
the  wicked  ones  were  even  rude  to  me,  and  threw 
my  valuable  vases  on  the  stone  floor,  and  smashed 
them.  They  knew  that  I could  not  punish  them 
at  that  important  moment,  for  we  were  leaving. 
I cried  very  much  and  prayed  for  our  Great 


182  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


'Ancestors’  Souls  to  protect  us.  Everyone  knelt 
with  me  and  prayed.  The  Young  Empress  was 
the  only  one  of  my  family  who  went  with  me.  A 
certain  relative  of  mine,  whom  I was  very  fond 
of,  and  gave  her  everything  she  asked,  refused 
to  go  with  me.  I knew  that  the  reason  she  would 
not  go  was  because  she  thought  the  foreign  sol- 
diers would  catch  up  the  runaway  Court,  and  kill 
everyone. 

“After  we  had  been  gone  about  seven  days,  I 
sent  one  eunuch  back,  to  find  out  who  was  still  in 
Peking.  She  asked  this  eunuch  whether  there 
were  any  foreign  soldiers  chasing  us,  and  whether 
I was  killed.  Soon  after  the  Japanese  soldiers 
took  her  Palace,  and  drove  her  out.  She  thought 
she  was  going  to  die  anyway,  and  as  I was  not 
yet  assassinated,  she  might  catch  up  with  the 
Court,  and  go  with  us.  I could  not  understand 
how  she  traveled  so  fast.  One  evening  we  were 
staying  at  a little  country  house,  when  she  came  in 
with  her  husband,  a nice  man.  She  was  telling 
me  how  much  she  had  missed  me,  and  how  very 
anxious  she  had  been  all  that  time  to  know 
whether  I was  safe  or  not,  and  cried.  I refused 
to  listen  to  what  she  was  saying  and  told  her 
plainly  that  I did  not  believe  a word.  From  that 
time  she  was  finished  for  me.  I had  a very  hard 
time,  traveling  in  a sedan  chair,  from  early 
morning,  before  the  sun  rose,  until  dark  and  in 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  MRS.  CONGER  183 


the  evening  had  to  stop  at  some  country  place.  I 
am  sure  you  would  pity  me,  old  as  I am,  that 
I should  have  had  to  suffer  in  that  way. 

“The  Emperor  went  all  the  way  in  a cart, 
drawn  by  a mule,  also  the  Empress.  1 went 
along,  and  was  prajdng  to  our  Great  Ancestors 
for  protection,  but  the  Emperor  was  very  quiet, 
and  never  opened  his  mouth.  One  day  some- 
thing happened.  It  rained  so  much  and  some 
of  the  chair  carriers  ran  away.  Some  of  the 
mules  died  suddenly.  It  was  very  hot,  and  the 
rain  was  pouring  down  on  our  heads.  Five  small 
eunuchs  ran  away  also,  because  we  were  obliged 
to  punish  them  the  night  before  on  account  of 
their  bad  behavior  to  the  Magistrate,  who  did 
all  he  could  to  make  me  comfortable,  but  of  course 
food  was  scarce.  I heard  these  eunuchs  quar- 
reling with  the  Magistrate,  who  bowed  to  the 
ground,  begging  them  to  keep  quiet,  and  prom- 
ised them  everything.  I was  of  course  very  an- 
gry. Traveling  under  such  circumstances  one 
ought  to  be  satisfied  that  one  was  provided  for. 

“It  took  us  more  than  a month  before  we 
reached  Shi  An.  I cannot  tell  you  how  fatigued 
I was,  and  was  of  course  worrying  very  much, 
which  made  me  quite  ill  for  almost  three  months. 
So  long  as  I live  I cannot  forget  it. 

“We  returned  to  Peking  early  in  the  twenty- 
eighth  year  of  Kwang  Hsu  and  I had  another 


184  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


dreadful  feeling  when  I saw  my  own  Palace 
again.  Oh ! it  was  quite  changed ; a great  many 
valuable  ornaments  broken  or  stolen.  All  the 
valuable  things  at  the  Sea  Palace  had  been  taken 
away,  and  someone  had  broken  the  fingers  of  my 
white  jade  Buddha,  to  whom  I used  to  worship 
every  day.  Several  foreigners  sat  on  my  throne 
and  had  their  photos  taken.  When  I was  at  the 
Shi  An  I was  just  like  being  sent  into  exile, 
although  the  Viceroy’s  Yamen  was  prepared  for 
us,  but  the  building  was  very  old,  damp  and 
unhealthy.  The  Emperor  became  ill.  It  would 
take  a long  time  to  tell  you  everything ; I thought 
I had  enough  trouble,  but  this  last  was  the  worst. 
When  I have  time,  I will  tell  you  more  about  it. 
I want  you  to  know  the  absolute  truth. 

“Now  let  us  come  back  to  the  question  of  Mrs. 
Conger’s  private  audience.  There  must  be  some- 
thing special,  hut  I hope  that  she  will  not  ask 
for  anything,  for  I hate  to  refuse  her.  Can  you 
guess  what  it  is  ?”  I told  Her  Majesty  that  there 
could  not  be  anything  special;  besides,  Mrs. 
Conger  considered  herself  to  be  a person  who 
knew  Chinese  etiquette  very  well,  and  I didn’t 
believe  she  would  ask  for  anything  at  all.  Her 
Majesty  said:  “The  only  objection  I have  is  that 
Mrs.  Conger  always  brings  one  of  the  mission- 
aries as  her  interpreter,  when  I have  your  mother, 
your  sister  and  yourself,  which  I think  should 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  MRS.  CONGER  185 


be  sufficient.  I don’t  think  it  is  right  for  her 
to  do  that;  besides,  I cannot  understand  their 
Chinese  very  well.  I like  to  see  the  ladies  of  the 
Diplomatic  body  sometimes,  but  not  the  mission- 
aries. I will  stop  that  when  the  opportunity 
comes.” 

The  next  morning  Prince  Ching  told  Her 
Majesty  that  the  American  Admiral,  and  Mrs. 
Evans,  and  suite  wished  to  be  presented  to  her. 
The  American  Minister  asked  two  private  audi- 
ences. He  said  he  had  made  a mistake  by  tell- 
ing her  that  Mrs.  Conger  had  asked  an  audience 
for  herself,  the  day  before. 

After  the  regular  morning  audience  was  over 
Her  Majesty  laughed  and  said:  “Didn’t  I tell 
you  yesterday  that  there  must  be  a reason  for 
asking  an  audience  ? I rather  would  like  to  meet 
the  American  Admiral  and  his  wife.”  Turning 
to  us  she  said:  “Be  sure  and  fix  everything  up 
pretty,  change  everything  in  my  bedroom,  so  as 
not  to  show  them  our  daily  life.”  We  all  said 
“Jur”  (yes),  but  we  knew  it  was  going  to  be  a 
hard  task  to  turn  the  Palace  upside  down. 

It  was  just  the  night  before  the  appointed 
audience.  We  started  to  work  taking  off  the 
pink  silk  curtains  from  every  window,  and 
changing  them  for  sky  blue  (the  color  she  hated)  ; 
then  we  changed  the  cushions  on  the  chairs  to 
the  same  color.  While  we  were  watching  the 


186  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


eunuchs  doing  the  work,  several  of  them  came 
into  the  room,  carrying  a large  tray  full  of  clocks. 
By  this  time  her  Majesty  had  come  into  the  room, 
and  ordered  us  to  remove  all  her  white  and  green 
jade  Buddhas  and  take  some  of  the  jade  orna- 
ments away,  for  those  things  were  sacred,  and 
no  foreigners  should  see  them,  so  we  replaced 
them  with  these  clocks,  instead.  We  also  took 
away  the  three  embroidered  door  curtains,  and 
changed  them  for  ordinary  blue  satin  ones.  I 
must  explain  that  these  three  curtains  were  sa- 
cred, too.  They  were  embroidered  to  repre- 
sent five  hundred  Buddhist  deities,  on  old  gold 
satin,  and  had  been  used  by  Emperor  Tou 
Kwang.  Her  Majesty  believed  that  by  hang- 
ing these  curtains  at  her  door  they  would  guard 
against  evil  spirits  entering  her  room.  The 
order  was  that  one  of  us  should  remember  to 
place  them  back  again  when  the  audience  was 
over.  We  fixed  every  piece  of  furniture  in  her 
bedroom.  Her  toilet  table  was  the  most  impor- 
tant thing.  She  would  not  let  anyone  see  it — 
not  even  the  wives  of  the  Officials  who  came  in,  so 
of  course  we  had  to  put  it  in  a safe  place,  and  lock 
it  up.  We  changed  her  bed  from  pink  color  into 
blue.  All  her  furniture  was  made  of  sandal- 
wood, also  carvings  on  her  bed.  This  sandal- 
wood, before  it  was  made  into  furniture,  was 
placed  in  different  temples,  to  be  sanctified,  so  of 


East  Side  of  the  Lake  inside  of  the  Summer  Palace 


Stand  erected  for  Foreigners  by  the  Wei  Wu  Puh,  in 
the  Manchu  City,  and  end  of  funeral  followed 
by  Palace  Guards. 


- ~ 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  MRS.  CONGER  187 


course  no  foreigner  could  see  it.  As  we  could  not 
take  this  carving  from  her  bed,  we  covered  it  up 
with  embroidered  hangings.  While  we  were 
working  Pier  Majesty  came  in  and  told  us  not  to 
hurry  in  her  bedroom,  because  the  audience  the 
next  day  would  only  be  for  Admiral  Robley 
Evans  and  his  staff,  and  they  would  not  visit  the 
private  rooms.  The  audience  for  Mrs.  Evans 
and  the  other  ladies  would  be  the  day  after.  She 
said  it  was  important  to  see  that  the  Audience 
Hall  was  fixed  up  properly.  She  said:  “Place 
the  only  carpet  we  have  here  in  the  hall.  I don’t 
like  carpets  anyway,  but  it  cannot  be  helped.” 
After  we  had  finished,  Iler  Majesty  started 
to  tell  us  what  to  wear  for  the  ladies’  audience. 
She  said  to  me:  “You  need  not  come  to  the  throne 
to-morrow,  there  will  only  be  gentlemen.  I will 
get  one  of  the  Ministers  from  Wai-Wu-Pu 
(Bureau  of  Foreign  Affairs) . I don’t  want  you 
to  talk  to  so  many  strange  men.  It  is  not  the 
Manchu  custom.  These  people  are  all  strangers. 
They  might  go  back  to  America  and  tell  every- 
body what  you  look  like.”  At  the  same  time 
Her  Majesty  gave  orders  for  the  Imperial  Yel- 
low Gown  to  be  brought  in  next  day,  for  the 
gentleman’s  audience.  She  said  that  she  must 
dress  in  her  official  robe  for  this  occasion.  This 
robe  was  made  of  yellow  satin,  embroidered  with 
gold  dragons.  She  wore  a necklace  composed 


188  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


of  one  hundred  and  eight  pearls,  which  formed 
part  of  this  official  dress.  She  said : “I  don’t  like 
to  wear  this  official  robe.  It  is  not  pretty,  but  I 
am  afraid  I will  have  to.”  She  said  to  all  of  us : 
“You  need  not  dress  especially.” 

The  next  morning  Her  Majesty  got  up  early, 
and  was  busier  than  ever.  It  seemed  to  me  that 
whenever  we  had  an  audience  we  always  had  so 
much  trouble.  Something  was  sure  to  go  wrong 
and  make  Her  Majesty  angry.  She  said:  “I 
want  to  look  nice,  and  be  amiable,  but  these  peo- 
ple always  make  me  angry.  I know  the  Amer- 
ican Admiral  will  go  home  and  tell  his  people 
about  me,  and  I don’t  want  him  to  have  a wrong 
impression.”  It  took  her  almost  two  hours  to 
dress  her  hair,  and  by  that  time  it  was  too  late  for 
her  usual  morning  audience,  so  she  proposed  hold- 
ing that  after  the  foreigners  had  gone  away. 
She  looked  at  herself  in  the  looking-glass,  with 
her  Imperial  robe  on,  and  told  me  that  she  did  not 
like  it,  and  asked  me  whether  I thought  the  for- 
eigners would  know  that  it  was  an  official  robe. 
“I  look  too  ugly  in  yellow.  It  makes  my  face 
look  the  same  color  as  my  robe,”  she  said.  I 
suggested  that  as  it  was  only  a private  audience, 
if  she  wished  to  dress  differently,  it  would  not 
matter  at  all.  She  seemed  delighted,  and  I was 
afraid  lest  I had  not  made  a proper  suggestion, 
but  anyway  I was  too  busy  to  worry.  Her 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  MRS.  CONGER  189 


Majesty  ordered  that  her  different  gowns  should 
be  brought  in,  and  after  looking  them  over  she 
selected  one  embroidered  all  over  with  the  char- 
acter “Shou”  (long  life),  covered  with  precious 
stones  and  pearls,  on  pale  green  satin.  She  tried 
it  on,  and  said  that  it  was  becoming  to  her,  so 
she  ordered  me  to  go  to  the  jewel-room  and  get 
flowers  to  match  for  her  hair.  On  one  side  of 
the  headdress  was  the  character  (shou)  and  on 
the  other  side  was  a bat  (the  bat  in  China  is  con- 
sidered to  be  lucky) . Of  course  her  shoes,  hand- 
kerchiefs and  everything  else  were  embroidered 
in  the  same  way.  After  she  was  dressed,  she 
smiled  and  said:  “I  look  all  right  now.  We  had 
better  go  to  the  audience  hall  and  wait  for  them, 
and  at  the  same  time  we  can  play  a game  of 
dice.”  Then  to  us  all  she  said:  “All  of  you  will 
stay  at  the  back  of  the  screen  during  the  audi- 
ence. You  can  see  all  right,  but  I don’t  wish 
that  you  should  be  seen.”  The  eunuchs  had  laid 
the  map  down  on  the  table  and  were  just  going 
to  commence  playing  dice,  when  one  of  the  high 
rank  eunuchs  came  into  the  Hall  and,  kneeling 
down,  said  that  the  American  Admiral  had 
arrived  at  the  Palace  Gate,  together  with  the 
American  Minister — ten  or  twelve  people  alto- 
gether. Her  Majesty  smiled  and  said  to  me: 
“I  thought  it  wTas  just  going  to  be  the  American 
Minister  and  the  Admiral,  and  one  or  two  of 


190  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


his  staff.  Who  can  the  rest  of  the  people  be? 
However,  never  mind,  I will  receive  them  any- 
way.” We  helped  her  to  mount  her  throne 
upon  the  dais,  fixed  her  clothes,  and  handed  her 
the  paper  containing  the  speech  she  was  to  give. 
Then  we  went  back  of  the  screen,  with  the  Young 
Empress.  It  was  so  very  quiet,  not  a sound 
anywhere,  that  we  could  hear  the  boots  of 
the  visitors  as  they  walked  over  the  stones  in 
the  courtyard.  We  were  peeping  from  behind 
the  screen,  and  could  see  several  of  the  Princes 
mounting  the  steps,  conducting  these  people  to 
the  Hall.  The  Admiral  and  the  American  Min- 
ister came  in,  and  stood  in  a line.  They  bowed 
three  times  to  the  Empress  Dowager.  The 
Emperor  was  also  on  his  throne,  sitting  at  her 
left  hand.  His  throne  was  very  small,  just  like 
an  ordinary  chair.  Her  Majesty’s  speech  was 
simply  to  welcome  the  Admiral  to  China.  They 
then  came  up  to  the  dais  and  shook  hands  with 
their  Majesties,  ascending  on  one  side,  and  retir- 
ing down  the  other.  Prince  Ching  took  them 
into  another  Palace  building,  where  they  had 
lunch,  and  the  audience  was  over.  It  was  very 
simple  and  formal. 

After  the  audience  was  over  Her  Majesty  said 
that  she  could  hear  us  laughing  behind  the  screen, 
and  that  maybe  the  people  would  talk  about  it, 
and  did  not  like  it  at  all.  I told  her  that  it 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  MRS.  CONGER  191 


was  not  myself  who  laughed.  She  said:  “The 
next  time  when  I have  men  in  audience  you  need 
not  come  into  the  Audience  Hall  at  all.  Of 
course  it  is  different  when  I have  my  own  people 
at  the  morning  audiences.” 

Her  Majesty  did  not  go  to  her  bedroom  that 
afternoon.  She  said  she  wanted  to  wait  until 
these  people  had  gone  and  hear  what  they  had 
to  say.  After  a couple  of  hours  Prince  Ching 
came  in  and  reported  that  they  had  lunched,  and 
that  they  were  very  pleased  to  have  seen  Her 
Majesty,  and  had  gone  away.  I must  here 
explain  that  the  Admiral  had  entered  by  the  left 
gate  of  the  Palace.  The  middle  gate  was  only 
used  for  Their  Majesties,  with  one  exception, 
viz. : in  the  case  of  anyone  presenting  credentials. 
Then  they  entered  by  the  center  gate.  The 
Admiral  left  by  the  same  gate  he  had  entered. 
Her  Majesty  asked  Prince  Ching  whether  he 
had  showed  them  around  the  Palace  buildings 
or  not  (this  was  in  the  Summer  Palace),  and 
what  they  had  thought  about  it.  Did  they  say 
anything,  and  were  they  pleased  or  not.  She 
said  to  Prince  Ching:  “You  can  go  now,  and 
make  the  necessary  preparations  for  the  ladies’ 
audience  next  day.”  That  same  evening  Her 
Majesty  said  to  us:  “You  must  all  dress  alike 
to-morrow,  and  wear  your  prettiest  clothes. 
These  foreign  ladies  who  are  coming  to  the  Pal- 


192  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


ace  may  never  see  us  again,  and  if  we  don’t  show 
them  what  we  have  now,  we  will  not  have  another 
opportunity.”  She  ordered  us  all,  including  the 
Young  Empress,  to  wear  pale  blue,  also  the  Sec- 
ondary wife  of  the  Emperor.  She  said  to  me: 
“If  the  ladies  ask  who  the  Secondary  wife  is,  you 
can  tell  them ; but  if  they  don’t  ask,  I don’t  want 
you  to  introduce  her  to  them  at  all.  I have  to 
be  very  careful.  These  people  at  the  Palace 
here  are  not  used  to  seeing  so  many  people  and 
they  might  not  have  nice  manners,  and  the  for- 
eigners will  laugh  at  them.”  Then  she  said  to 
us  again:  “I  always  give  presents  when  ladies 
come  to  the  Court,  but  don’t  know  whether  I 
will  give  this  time  or  not,  for  at  the  last  audience 
I did  not  give  anything  at  all.”  Addressing  me, 
she  said:  “You  can  prepare  some  pieces  of  jade, 
in  case  I need  them.  Put  them  in  a nice  box 
and  have  them  all  ready.  Don’t  bring  them  to 
me  until  I ask  for  them.”  She  said:  “We  have 
talked  enough  now,  and  you  can  all  go  to 
rest.”  We  courtesied  good  night.  I was  only 
too  glad  to  go  to  my  own  room. 

The  next  morning  everything  went  on  very 
nicely  and  there  was  no  trouble  at  all.  Her 
Majesty  was  well  satisfied,  for  we  had  all  taken 
great  care  in  fixing  ourselves  up.  She  said  to 
me:  “You  never  put  enough  paint  on  your  face. 
People  might  take  you  for  a widow.  You  will 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  MRS.  CONGER  193 


have  to  paint  your  lips,  as  that  is  the  custom. 
I don’t  need  you  yet,  so  go  back  and  put  some 
more  paint  on.”  So  I went  back  to  my  room 
and  painted  myself  just  like  the  rest  of  them, 
but  I could  not  help  laughing  at  seeing  myself 
so  changed.  By  the  time  I got  to  her  room 
again,  she  said:  “Now  you  look  all  right.  If 
you  think  that  powder  is  expensive,  I will  buy 
some  for  you.”  She  said  that  with  a laugh,  for 
she  always  liked  to  tease  me. 

By  the  time  Her  Majesty  had  finished  her 
toilet,  one  of  the  ladies  brought  a number  of 
gowns  for  her  to  select  one  from.  She  said  she 
would  wear  pale  blue  that  day.  She  looked  over 
twenty  or  thirty  gowns,  but  found  nothing  which 
suited  her,  so  she  gave  orders  for  some  more  to 
be  brought  in.  Finally  she  chose  a blue  gown 
embroidered  with  one  hundred  butterflies,  and 
wore  a purple  sleeveless  jacket,  which  was  also 
embroidered  with  butterflies.  At  the  bottom 
of  this  gown  were  pearl  tassels.  She  wore 
her  largest  pearls,  one  of  which  was  almost  as 
large  as  an  egg,  and  was  her  favorite  jewel. 
She  only  wore  this  on  special  occasions.  She 
wore  two  jade  butterflies  on  each  side  of  her 
headdress.  Her  bracelets  and  rings  were  also 
all  designed  in  butterflies,  in  fact  everything 
matched.  Among  her  beautiful  jewels,  she  al- 
ways wore  some  kind  of  fresh  flowers.  White 


194  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


jessamine  was  her  favorite  flower.  The  Young 
Empress  and  the  Court  ladies  were  not  allowed 
to  wear  fresh  flowers  at  all  unless  given  to  them 
by  Her  Majesty  as  a special  favor.  We  could 
wear  pearls  and  jade,  etc.,  but  she  said  that  the 
fresh  flowers  were  for  her,  her  idea  being  that  we 
were  too  young,  and  might  spoil  fresh  flowers  if 
we  wore  them.  After  she  was  dressed  we  went 
into  the  Audience  Hall.  She  ordered  her  cards 
to  he  brought  in  as  she  wanted  to  play  solitaire. 
She  talked  all  the  time  she  was  playing,  and  said 
that  we  must  all  be  very  nice  and  polite  to  the 
American  ladies,  and  show  them  everywhere. 
She  said:  “It  doesn’t  matter  now,  for  we  have 
everything  changed.”  She  said:  “I  want  to  laugh 
myself.  What  is  the  use  of  changing  every- 
thing? They  will  imagine  we  are  always  like 
this.  By  and  bye,  if  they  question  you  about 
anything,  just  tell  them  that  it  is  not  so,  and 
that  we  change  everything  at  each  audience,  just 
to  give  them  a bit  of  surprise.  You  must  tell 
it  some  day,  otherwise  no  one  will  know  it  at  all, 
and  the  trouble  would  not  be  worth  the  while.” 
It  was  a private  audience  for  ladies,  and  Her 
Majesty  did  not  use  the  big  throne,  but  was  sit- 
ting on  her  little  throne  at  the  left  side  of  the 
Audience  Hall,  where  she  received  her  own  Min- 
isters every  morning;  the  Emperor  was  stand- 
ing. A eunuch  came  in,  the  same  as  the  day 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  MRS.  CONGER  195 


before,  and  announced  that  the  ladies  had  ar- 
rived at  the  Palace  Gate,  nine  in  all.  Her 
Majesty  sent  some  of  the  Court  ladies  to  meet 
them  in  the  courtyard,  and  bring  them  to  the 
Audience  Hall,  which  they  did.  I was  standing 
at  the  right  side  of  Her  Majesty’s  chair,  and 
could  see  them  mounting  the  steps.  Her 
Majesty  whispered  to  me,  and  asked:  “Which 
one  is  Mrs.  Evans?”  As  I had  never  seen  the 
lady,  I answered  that  I could  not  tell,  but  when 
they  got  nearer  I saw  a lady  walking  with  the 
American  Minister’s  wife,  and  concluded  that 
she  must  be  Mrs.  Evans,  and  told  Her  Majesty. 
As  they  got  nearer.  Her  Majesty  said:  “Again 
that  missionary  lady  with  Mrs.  Conger.  I think 
she  must  like  to  see  me.  She  comes  every  time. 
I will  tell  her  I am  very  glad  to  see  her  always, 
and  see  if  she  understands  what  I mean.” 

Mrs.  Conger  shook  hands  with  Her  Majesty 
and  presented  Mrs.  Evans  and  also  the  wives 
of  the  American  officers.  I was  watching  Her 
Majesty  and  saw  that  she  was  very  nice  and 
amiable,  with  such  a pleasant  smile — so  different 
from  her  everyday  manner.  She  told  them  she 
was  delighted  to  see  them.  Her  Majesty 
ordered  the  eunuchs  to  have  chairs  brought  in 
for  the  ladies,  and  at  the  same  time  other  eunuchs 
brought  in  tea.  Her  Majesty  asked  Mrs.  Evans 
whether  she  liked  China;  what  she  thought  of 


196  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


Peking;  how  long  she  had  been  there;  how  long 
she  was  going  to  stay,  and  where  she  was  stay- 
ing. I was  so  accustomed  to  Her  Majesty’s 
questions  that  I knew  exactly  what  she  would 
ask.  Mrs.  Conger  told  her  interpreter  to  tell 
Her  Majesty  that  she  had  not  seen  her  for  such 
a long  time,  and  enquired  about  Her  Majesty’s 
health.  Her  Majesty  said  to  me : “You  tell  Mrs. 
Conger  that  I am  in  good  health  and  that  I am 
delighted  to  see  her.  It  is  a pity  that  I cannot 
hold  an  audience  more  frequently,  otherwise  I 
could  see  more  of  her.”  She  continued:  “The 
Imperial  Princess  (her  adopted  daughter — 
daughter  of  Prince  Kung)  will  accompany  them 
to  lunch.”  This  ended  the  audience. 

Lunch  was  served  at  the  back  of  her  own  Pal- 
ace building  (Yang  Yuen  Hsuen — the  place 
where  the  clouds  gather  to  rest ) . This  room  was 
specially  furnished  as  a banqueting  room  where 
refreshments  could  be  served.  All  the  Court 
ladies  went  to  the  lunch,  except  Her  Majesty, 
the  Young  Empress  and  the  Secondary  wife.  It 
had  taken  me  two  hours  to  fix  the  table  for  the 
luncheon.  Her  Majesty  ordered  that  a white 
foreign  tablecloth  should  be  used,  as  it  looked 
cleaner.  The  eunuch  gardeners  had  decorated 
the  table  with  fresh  flowers,  and  Her  Majesty 
gave  instructions  as  to  how  the  seats  were  to  be 
placed.  She  said:  “Mrs.  Evans  is  the  guest  of 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  MRS.  CONGER  197 


honor.  Although  Mrs.  Conger  is  the  wife  of  the 
American  Minister,  she  is  more  of  a resident,  so 
Mrs.  Evans  must  have  the  principal  seat.”  She 
also  told  me  to  arrange  to  seat  everybody  accord- 
ing to  their  respective  ranks.  The  Imperial 
Princess  and  Princess  Shun  (Her  Majesty’s 
niece,  sister  of  the  Young  Empress)  were  host- 
esses, and  were  to  sit  opposite  each  other.  We 
placed  golden  menu  holders  and  little  gold  plates 
for  almonds  and  watermelon  seeds;  the  rest  all 
silver  ware,  including  chopsticks.  Her  Majesty 
ordered  that  foreign  knives  and  forks  should  be 
provided  also.  The  food  was  served  in  Manchu 
style,  and  was  composed  of  twenty-four  courses, 
besides  sweetmeats — candies  and  fruits.  Her 
Majesty  instructed  us  that  only  the  best  cham- 
pagne was  to  be  served.  She  said:  “I  know  that 
foreign  ladies  love  to  drink.” 

I think  I was  the  only  one  who  was  really 
happy  to  meet  these  ladies,  more  so  than  the  rest 
of  the  Court  ladies,  the  reason  being  that  Her 
Majesty  lectured  them  too  severely,  telling  them 
how  to  behave,  so  that  they  had  grown  to  hate 
the  very  mention  of  a foreign  audience.  While 
we  were  eating,  a eunuch  came  in  and  told  me 
that  Her  Majesty  was  waiting  at  her  private 
Palace,  and  that  I should  bring  these  ladies  there 
after  the  lunch  was  over.  So  when  we  had  fin- 
ished we  entered  her  own  Palace  and  found  her 


198  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


waiting  there  for  us.  She  got  up  and  told  me  to 
ask  Mrs.  Evans  whether  she  had  had  anything 
to  eat — that  the  food  was  not  very  good.  (This 
is  a custom  with  the  Chinese  when  entertaining, 
always  to  underrate  the  food. ) She  said  that  she 
would  like  to  show  Mrs.  Evans  her  private  apart- 
ments, so  that  she  could  form  some  idea  of  the 
way  we  lived,  so  she  took  Airs.  Evans  to  one  of 
her  bedrooms.  She  invited  Airs.  Evans  and  Airs. 
Conger  to  sit  down,  and  the  eunuchs  brought  in 
tea,  as  usual.  Her  Alajesty  asked  Airs.  Evans 
to  stay  a little  while  in  Peking,  and  to  visit  the 
different  temples.  She  said:  “Our  country, 
although  very  old,  has  not  such  fine  buildings  as 
there  are  in  America.  I suppose  you  will  find 
everything  very  strange.  I am  rather  too  old 
now,  otherwise  I would  like  to  travel  around  the 
world.  I have  read  much  about  different  coun- 
tries, but  of  course  there  is  nothing  like  visiting 
the  different  places  and  seeing  them  yourself. 
However,  one  cannot  tell.  I may  be  able  to  go 
after  all,  by  and  bye,  but  I am  afraid  to  leave  my 
own  country.  By  the  time  I returned  I should 
not  know  the  place  any  more,  I’m  afraid.  Here 
everything  seems  to  depend  on  me.  Our  Em- 
peror is  quite  young.” 

She  then  turned  and  ordered  us  to  take  these 
ladies  to  visit  the  different  buildings  of  the  Pal- 
ace, also  the  famous  temple  of  the  King  of 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  MRS.  CONGER  199 


Dragons.  This  is  on  a little  island  in  the  center 
of  the  lake  of  the  Summer  Palace.  Mrs.  Con- 
ger said  that  she  had  something  to  ask  Her 
Majesty,  and  told  the  Missionary  lady  to  pro- 
ceed. While  Mrs.  Conger  was  speaking  to  this 
lady  Her  Majesty  became  rather  impatient  as 
she  wanted  to  know  what  they  were  talking 
about,  so  she  asked  me.  It  was  very  hard  for 
me  to  listen  to  both  of  the  ladies  and  to  Her 
Majesty  at  the  same  time.  The  only  words  I 
heard  were:  “The  portrait,”  so  I guessed  the 
rest.  Before  I had  a chance  to  tell  Her  Majesty 
this  Missionary  lady  said:  “Mrs.  Conger  has 
come  with  the  special  object  of  asking  permission 
to  have  Her  Majesty’s  portrait  painted  by  an 
American  lady  artist,  Miss  Carl,  as  she  is  desirous 
of  sending  it  to  the  St.  Louis  Exhibition,  in  order 
that  the  American  people  may  form  some  idea 
of  what  a beautiful  lady  the  Empress  Dowager 
of  China  is.”  Miss  Carl  is  the  sister  of  Mr.  F. 
Carl  who  was  for  so  many  years  Commissioner  of 
Customs  in  Chefoo. 

Her  Majesty  looked  surprised,  for  she  had 
been  listening  very  carefully  whilst  this  lady  was 
talking.  She  did  not  like  to  say  that  she  did  not 
quite  understand,  so  she  turned  to  me,  as  had 
been  previously  arranged, — a sign  for  me  to  in- 
terpret. I did  not,  however,  do  so  immediately, 
so  Mrs.  Conger  told  her  missionary  friend  to 


200  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


repeat  the  request  in  case  Her  Majesty  had  not 
quite  understood  it.  Her  Majesty  then  said  to 
me:  “I  cannot  quite  understand  what  this  lady 
says.  I think  perhaps  you  can  tell  me  better.” 
So  I explained  everything,  but  I knew  that  Her 
Majesty  did  not  know  what  a portrait  was  like, 
as,  up  to  that  time  she  had  never  even  had  a 
photograph  taken  of  herself. 

I must  here  explain  that  in  China  a portrait  is 
only  painted  after  death,  in  memorium  of  the 
deceased,  in  order  that  the  following  generations 
may  worship  the  deceased.  I noticed  that  Her 
Majesty  was  somewhat  shocked  when  the  request 
was  made  known  to  her.  I did  not  want  Her 
[Majesty  to  appear  ignorant  before  these  foreign 
ladies,  so  I pulled  her  sleeve  and  told  her  that  I 
would  explain  everything  to  her  later.  She  re- 
plied: “Explain  a little  to  me  now.”  This  was 
spoken  in  the  Court  language,  which  the  visitors 
were  unable  to  understand,  it  being  somewhat  dif- 
ferent from  the  ordinary  Chinese  language.  This 
enabled  Her  [Majesty  to  form  some  idea  of  the 
conversation,  so  she  thanked  [Mrs.  Conger  for  her 
kind  thought,  and  promised  to  give  her  answer 
later.  She  said  to  me:  “Tell  [Mrs.  Conger  that 
I cannot  decide  anything  alone,  as  she  is  prob- 
ably aware  that  I have  to  consult  with  my  Min- 
isters before  deciding  anything  of  an  important 
character.  Tell  her  that  I have  to  be  very  care- 


THE  EMPRESS  AND  MRS.  CONGER  201 


ful  not  to  do  anything  which  would  give  my 
people  an  opportunity  to  criticize  my  actions. 
I have  to  adhere  to  the  rules  and  customs  of  my 
ancestors.”  I noticed  that  Her  Majesty  did  not 
seem  inclined  to  discuss  the  subject  further  at  the 
moment. 

Just  then  the  head  eunuch  came  in  and,  kneel- 
ing down,  informed  Her  Majesty  that  the  boats 
for  the  ladies  were  ready  to  take  them  across  the 
lake,  to  see  the  temple.  This  action  on  the  part 
of  the  eunuch  was  owing  to  his  having  received  a 
signal  from  one  of  the  Court  ladies,  which  im- 
plied that  Her  Majesty  was  getting  tired  of  the 
conversation,  and  wished  to  change  the  subject. 
I must  explain  that  on  every  occasion  when  a 
foreign  audience  was  taking  place,  one  of  the 
Court  ladies  was  always  told  off  to  watch  Her 
Majesty,  and  whenever  she  appeared  to  be  dis- 
pleased or  tired  of  any  particular  subject  under 
discussion,  she,  the  Court  lady,  would  give  the 
signal  to  the  head  eunuch,  who  would  break  in 
upon  the  conversation  in  the  above  manner,  and 
thus  save  the  situation  from  becoming  embarrass- 
ing. So  Her  Majesty  said  good-bye  to  the 
ladies,  as  she  thought  it  would  be  too  late  for 
them  to  have  to  return  to  say  good-bye,  besides 
which  it  would  give  them  more  time  to  see  the 
various  sights. 

The  ladies  then  proceeded  to  the  island  in  the 


202  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


Empress  Dowager’s  pleasure  boat  known  as  the 
Imperial  barge,  previously  described,  and  visited 
the  temple.  This  temple  is  built  on  top  of  a 
small  rock,  in  the  center  of  which  is  a natural 
cave,  and  it  was  generally  supposed  that  no  hu- 
man being  had  ever  been  inside  of  this  cave.  The 
Empress  Dowager  believed  the  popular  super- 
stition that  this  hole  was  the  home  of  the  King 
of  Dragons — from  which  the  temple  derives  its 
name. 


CHAPTER  THIRTEEN 


THE  EMPRESS’S  PORTRAIT 

After  staying  a little  while  at  the  temple,  we 
returned  to  the  Palace,  and  the  ladies  said  good- 
bye and  took  chairs  to  the  Palace  gate,  where 
their  own  chairs  were  waiting  for  them.  I then 
went  to  report  to  Her  Majesty  in  the  usual  way 
what  had  been  said  by  the  visitors ; whether  they 
had  expressed  themselves  as  being  pleased  with 
the  reception  they  had  received.  Her  Majesty 
said:  “I  like  Mrs.  Evans.  I think  she  is  a very 
good  woman.  It  seems  to  me  that  her  manners 
are  quite  different  from  those  of  the  other  Amer- 
ican ladies  whom  I have  met.  I like  to  meet 
people  who  are  polite.”  Then,  referring  to  the 
subject  of  the  portrait  Her  Majesty  said:  “I 
wonder  why  Mrs.  Conger  has  this  idea.  Now 
please  explain  to  me  what  painting  a portrait 
really  is.”  When  I explained  that  it  would  be 
necessary  for  her  to  sit  for  several  hours  each  day 
she  was  excited,  and  afraid  she  would  never  have 
the  patience  to  see  it  through.  She  asked  me 
what  she  must  do  during  the  sitting,  so  I ex- 
plained that  she  would  simply  have  to  pose  for 

203 


£04  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


the  portrait,  sitting  in  one  position  all  the  time. 
She  said:  “I  shall  be  an  old  woman  by  the  time 
the  portrait  is  finished.”  I told  her  that  I had 
had  my  own  portrait  painted  during  my  stay  in 
Paris,  by  the  same  artist  Mrs.  Conger  had  pro- 
posed should  paint  her  own  portrait  (Miss  Carl) . 
She  immediately  told  me  to  fetch  the  portrait  of 
myself  so  that  she  could  examine  it  and  see  what 
it  was  like,  so  I gave  the  order  right  away  to  a 
eunuch  who  was  standing  by  to  go  to  my  house 
and  bring  it.  Her  Majesty  said:  “I  do  not  un- 
derstand why  I must  sit  for  the  portrait. 
Couldn’t  someone  else  do  it  for  me.”  I explained 
to  her  that  as  it  was  her  own  portrait,  and  not 
that  of  somebody  else,  they  wished  to  paint,  it 
would  be  necessary  for  her  to  sit  herself.  She 
then  enquired  whether  it  would  be  necessary  for 
her  to  wear  the  same  dress  at  each  sitting,  also 
the  same  jewels  and  ornaments.  I replied  that 
it  would  be  necessary  to  do  so  on  each  occasion. 
Her  Majesty  then  explained  that  in  China  it  was 
only  necessary  for  an  artist  to  see  his  subject 
once,  after  which  he  could  start  right  away  and 
finish  the  portrait  in  a very  short  time,  and 
thought  that  a really  first-class  foreign  artist 
should  be  able  to  do  the  same.  Of  course  I ex- 
plained the  difference  between  foreign  portrait 
painting  and  Chinese,  and  told  her  that  when  she 
had  seen  it  she  would  see  the  difference  and  un- 


THE  EMPRESS’S  PORTRAIT 


205 


derstand  the  reason  for  so  many  sittings.  She 
said:  “I  wonder  what  kind  of  a person  this  lady 
artist  is.  Does  she  speak  Chinese?”  I said  that 
I knew  Miss  Carl  very  well,  and  that  she  was  a 
very  nice  lady,  but  that  she  didn't  speak  Chinese. 
She  said:  “If  her  brother  has  been  in  the  Cus- 
toms service  for  so  long,  how  is  it  that  she  doesn’t 
speak  Chinese  also?”  I told  her  that  Miss  Carl 
had  been  away  from  China  for  a long  time; 
that  in  fact  she  had  only  been  in  China  for 
a very  short  time  altogether,  most  of  her  work 
being  in  Europe  and  America.  Her  Majesty 
said:  “I  am  glad  she  doesn’t  understand  Chinese. 
The  only  objection  about  this  portrait  painting  is 
that  I have  to  have  a foreigner  at  the  Palace  all 
the  time.  With  my  own  people  gossiping  they 
might  tell  her  things  which  I don’t  want  anyone 
to  know.”  I told  her  that  would  be  impossible 
as  Miss  Carl  did  not  understand  Chinese  at  all, 
neither  did  any  of  the  people  at  Court  under- 
stand English,  with  the  exception  of  ourselves 
(my  mother,  sister  and  myself).  Her  Majesty 
answered:  “You  must  not  rely  too  much  on  that, 
as  after  spending  a short  time  at  the  Court  they 
will  soon  learn  to  understand  each  other.”  Con- 
tinuing, she  said:  “By  the  way,  how  long  will  it 
take  before  this  portrait  is  finished?”  I told  her 
that  it  depended  entirely  upon  how  often  she  sat, 
and  how  long  each  time.  I didn’t  like  to  tell 


206  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


her  exactly  how  long  it  would  take,  as  I was 
afraid  she  might  consider  it  too  much  bother,  so 
I said  that  when  the  artist  arrived  I would  tell 
her  to  get  along  and  finish  the  portrait  as  quickly 
as  possible. 

Her  Majesty  said:  “I  don’t  see  how  I can  very 
well  refuse  Mrs.  Conger’s  request.  Of  course 
I told  her,  as  you  know,  that  I would  have  to 
consult  with  my  Ministers,  just  to  give  me  time 
to  think  the  matter  over.  If  you  know  all  about 
this  artist  lady,  and  think  she  is  quite  all  right 
to  come  here  to  the  Palace,  of  course  she  may 
come,  and  I will  tell  Prince  Ching  to  reply  to 
Mrs.  Conger  to  that  effect.  First  of  all  we  must 
talk  over  what  we  are  going  to  do,  for  to  have  a 
foreign  lady  staying  in  the  Palace  is  out  of  the 
question  altogether.  As  a rule  I always  spend 
the  summer  at  my  Summer  Palace,  and  it  is  so 
far  from  the  city  that  I don’t  think  she  will  he 
able  to  go  to  and  from  the  Palace  every  day,  on 
account  of  the  distance.  Now,  where  can  we 
put  her?  Someone  will  have  to  watch  her  all 
the  time.  This  is  such  a difficult  matter  that  I 
hardly  know  what  to  decide  upon.  How  would 
you  like  to  look  after  her?  Do  you  think  you 
could  manage  it  in  such  a Avav  that  no  one  at  the 
Palace  will  have  a chance  to  talk  with  her  during 
the  daytime,  but  who  is  going  to  stay  and  watch 
her  during  the  night?”  Her  Majesty  walked  up 


THE  EMPRESS’S  PORTRAIT 


207 


and  down  the  room  thinking  it  over  for  quite  a 
while.  Finally  she  smiled  and  said:  “I  have  it. 
We  can  treat  her  as  a prisoner  without  her  know- 
ing it,  but  it  will  all  depend  on  your  mother,  your 
sister  and  yourself  to  act  for  me  in  this  matter. 
Each  of  you  will  have  to  play  your  part  very 
carefully,  and  I mine  also.  I will  give  orders 
to  have  the  Palace  Garden  of  Prince  Chung 
(the  Emperor  Kwang  Hsu’s  father)  fixed  up 
for  Miss  Carl  during  her  stay  here.” 

This  Palace  garden  is  quite  close  to  Her  Maj- 
esty’s own  Palace,  about  ten  minutes’  drive.  It 
is  not  in  the  Palace  ground,  but  is  quite  a sepa- 
rate Palace  outside  the  Summer  Palace. 

Continuing,  Her  Majesty  said:  “Now,  you 
will  have  to  come  with  her  every  morning  and 
return  to  stay  with  her  every  night.  I think  this 
is  the  safest  way  out  of  the  difficulty,  but  be  care- 
ful with  regard  to  all  correspondence  which  she 
may  either  receive  or  send  away.  The  only 
thing  about  it  is  that  it  will  give  you  a lot  of 
extra  work,  but  you  know  how  particular  I am 
over  things  of  this  kind,  and  it  will  save  a lot  of 
trouble  in  the  end.  There  is  another  thing 
you  will  have  to  be  very  careful  about,  and  that 
is  to  watch  that  Miss  Carl  has  no  chance  to 
talk  with  the  Emperor.  The  reason  why  I 
say  this  is  because,  as  you  know,  the  Emperor 
is  of  a shy  disposition,  and  might  say  something 


208  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


which  would  offend  her.  I will  appoint  four 
extra  eunuchs  to  be  in  attendance  during  the  sit- 
tings for  the  portrait,  so  that  they  will  be  on 
hand  in  case  anything  is  wanted.”  Her  Maj- 
esty then  said : “I  noticed  that  Mrs.  Conger  was 
watching  you  when  you  pulled  my  sleeve.  I 
wonder  what  she  thought  of  it.  You  needn’t 
care,  anyway.  Let  her  think  anything  she  likes. 
I understood  what  you  meant  if  Mrs.  Conger 
didn’t,  and  that  is  all  that  is  necessary.”  I told 
her  that  perhaps  Mrs.  Conger  thought  I wanted 
to  advise  her  to  refuse  this  request,  but  Her 
Majesty  said:  “What  does  that  matter?  If  it 
hadn’t  been  that  you  know  the  artist  yourself  I 
would  not  have  consented  in  any  case.  It  is  not 
the  painting  of  the  portrait  that  I mind,  hut  it 
might  give  rise  to  serious  results.” 

The  next  morning  I received  a letter  from 
Mrs.  Conger  begging  me  not  to  prejudice  Her 
Majesty  against  Miss  Carl  in  any  way.  I trans- 
lated this  to  Her  Majesty,  and  it  made  her  furi- 
ous. She  said:  “No  one  has  any  right  to  write 
to  you  in  such  a way.  How  dare  she  suggest 
that  you  would  say  anything  against  Miss  Carl? 
Didn’t  I tell  vou  she  was  watching  you  when 
you  pulled  my  sleeve?  When  you  reply  to  that 
letter  tell  her  whatever  you  like,  but  answer  in 
the  same  way  she  writes  herself,  or,  better  still, 
you  write  and  inform  her  that  it  is  not  cus- 


THE  EMPRESS’S  PORTRAIT 


209 


tomary  for  any  Court  lady  to  try  and  influence 
Her  Majesty  in  this  country,  and  that  in  addi- 
tion, you  are  not  so  mean  as  to  say  anything 
against  anybody.  If  you  don’t  like  to  say  that, 
just  say  that  as  Miss  Carl  is  a personal  friend 
of  yours  you  certainly  would  never  think  of  say- 
ing anything  against  her.” 

I therefore  replied  to  Mrs.  Conger’s  letter  in 
the  ordinary  way,  making  it  as  formal  as  pos- 
sible. 

Her  Majesty  then  talked  of  nothing  but  the 
portrait  during  the  whole  of  that  afternoon.  By 
and  bye  she  said : “I  hope  that  Mrs.  Conger  will 
not  send  a missionary  lady  with  Miss  Carl  to 
keep  her  company  during  her  stay  at  the  Palace. 
If  she  does  I will  certainly  refuse  to  sit.  The 
next  morning  the  eunuch  arrived  with  my  por- 
trait, and  everyone  at  the  Court  had  a 
good  look  at  it  before  I took  it  to  show 
to  Her  Majesty.  Some  of  them  were  of  the 
opinion  that  it  was  very  much  like  me, 
while  the  others  thought  the  painting  a 
very  poor  one.  When  I informed  Her  Majesty 
of  the  arrival  of  the  portrait  she  ordered  that  it 
should  be  brought  into  her  bedroom  immediately. 
She  scrutinized  it  very  carefully  for  a while,  even 
touching  the  painting  in  her  curiosity.  Finally 
she  burst  out  laughing  and  said : “What  a funny 
painting  this  is,  it  looks  as  though  it  had  been 


210  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


painted  with  oil.”  (Of  course  it  was  an  oil 
painting.)  “Such  rough  work  I never  saw  in  all 
my  life.  The  picture  itself  is  marvellously  like 
you,  and  I do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  none  of 
our  Chinese  painters  could  get  the  expression 
which  appears  on  this  picture.  What  a funny 
dress  you  are  wearing  in  this  picture.  Why  are 
your  arms  and  neck  all  bare?  I have  heard  that 
foreign  ladies  wear  their  dresses  without  sleeves 
and  without  collars,  but  I had  no  idea  that  it 
was  so  bad  and  ugly  as  the  dress  you  are  wearing 
here.  I cannot  imagine  how  you  could  do  it.  I 
should  have  thought  you  would  have  been 
ashamed  to  expose  yourself  in  that  manner. 
Don’t  wear  any  more  such  dresses,  please.  It 
has  quite  shocked  me.  What  a funny  kind  of 
civilization  this  is  to  be  sure.  Is  this  dress  only 
worn  on  certain  occasions,  or  is  it  worn  any  time, 
even  when  gentlemen  are  present  ?”  I explained 
to  her  that  it  was  the  usual  evening  dress  for 
ladies  and  was  worn  at  dinners,  balls,  receptions, 
etc.  Her  Majesty  laughed  and  exclaimed: 
“This  is  getting  worse  and  worse.  Everything 
seems  to  go  backwards  in  foreign  countries. 
Here  we  don’t  even  expose  our  wrists  when  in 
the  company  of  gentlemen,  but  foreigners  seem 
to  have  quite  different  ideas  on  the  subject. 
The  Emperor  is  always  talking  about  reform, 
but  if  this  is  a sample  we  had  much  better  remain 


THE  EMPRESS’S  PORTRAIT 


211 


as  we  are.  Tell  me,  have  you  yet  changed  your 
opinion  with  regard  to  foreign  customs?  Don’t 
you  think  that  our  own  customs  are  much  nicer  ?” 
Of  course  I was  obliged  to  say  “yes”  seeing  that 
she  herself  was  so  prejudiced.  She  again  exam- 
ined the  portrait  and  said:  “Why  is  it  that  one 
side  of  your  face  is  painted  white  and  the  other 
black?  This  is  not  natural — your  face  is  not 
black.  Half  of  your  neck  is  painted  black,  too. 
How  is  it?”  I explained  that  it  was  simply  the 
shading  and  was  painted  exactly  as  the  artist  saw 
me  from  the  position  in  which  she  was  sitting. 
Her  Majesty  then  enquired:  “Do  you  think  that 
this  Artist  lady  will  paint  my  picture  to  look 
black  also?  It  is  going  to  America,  and  I don’t 
want  the  people  over  there  to  imagine  that  half 
of  my  face  is  white  and  half  black.”  I didn’t 
like  to  tell  her  the  truth,  that  her  portrait  would 
in  all  probability  be  painted  the  same  as  mine,  so 
I promised  Her  Majesty  that  I would  tell  the 
artist  exactly  how  she  wished  to  be  painted.  She 
then  asked  me  if  I knew  when  the  artist  pro- 
posed commencing  the  portrait.  I told  her  that 
the  artist  was  still  in  Shanghai,  but  that  Mrs. 
Conger  had  already  written  to  her  to  come  up  to 
Peking,  to  make  the  necessary  preparations. 
One  week  later  I received  a letter  from  Miss 
Carl  informing  me  that  she  proposed  coming  up 
to  Peking  at  once,  and  that  she  would  be  de- 


212  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


lighted  if  Her  Majesty  would  allow  her  to  paint 
this  portrait.  I translated  the  letter  to  Her  Maj- 
esty, who  said:  “I  am  very  glad  that  you  know 
this  lady  personally.  It  will  make  it  much  easier 
for  me.  You  know  there  may  be  some  things 
which  I may  wrant  to  tell  Miss  Carl,  but  which  I 
don’t  want  Mrs.  Conger  to  know.  I mean  that 
there  might  be  certain  things  which  I shall  have 
to  say  to  Miss  Carl,  which,  if  Mrs.  Conger  heard 
of  them,  would  give  her  the  impression  that  I was 
very  difficult  to  please.  You  understand  what 
I mean.  As  this  lady  is  a friend  of  yours,  you 
will  of  course  be  able  to  tell  her  things  in  such 
a manner  as  not  to  offend  her,  and  I may  tell 
you  again  that  if  it  were  not  that  she  is  a per- 
sonal friend  of  your  own  I would  not  have  her 
here  at  all,  as  it  is  quite  contrary  to  our  custom.” 
On  the  third  day  of  the  second-fifth  moon 
Prince  Ching  informed  Her  Majesty  that  the 
artist  had  arrived  at  Peking  and  was  staying 
with  Mrs.  Conger  and  wished  to  know  Her  Maj- 
esty’s pleasure  in  regard  to  commencing  the 
portrait.  Now  I must  explain  that  the  Chinese 
year  varies  as  to  the  number  of  moons  it  contains. 
For  example,  one  year  contains  the  ordinary 
twelve  months  or  moons.  The  following  year 
may  contain  thirteen  moons.  Then  the  two  years 
following  that  may  contain  twelve  moons  only, 
and  thirteen  moons  the  next  year,  and  so  on.  At 


THE  EMPRESS’S  PORTRAIT 


213 


the  time  of  the  proposed  visit  of  the  artist  the 
Chinese  year  contained  thirteen  moons,  there 
being  two  fifth  moons  in  that  year.  When 
Prince  Ching  asked  Her  Majesty  to  name  the 
day  on  which  Miss  Carl  should  commence  her 
work,  she  replied:  “I  will  give  her  my  answer 
to-morrow.  I must  first  consult  my  book,  as  I 
don’t  want  to  start  this  portrait  on  an  unlucky 
day.”  So  the  next  day,  after  her  usual  morning 
audience  Her  Majesty  consulted  this  book  for 
quite  a time.  Finally  she  said  to  me:  “Accord- 
ing to  my  book  the  next  lucky  day  will  not  occur 
for  another  ten  days  or  so,”  and  handed  me  the 
book  to  look  myself.  Eventually  she  picked  out 
the  twentieth  day  of  the  second-fifth  moon  as 
the  most  lucky  day  for  beginning  the  work. 
Next  she  had  to  consult  the  book  again  in  order 
to  fix  on  the  exact  hour,  finally  fixing  on  7 
o’clock  in  the  evening.  I was  very  much  wor- 
ried when  she  told  me  that,  as  by  that  time  it 
would  be  quite  dark,  so  I explained  to  Tier  Maj- 
esty as  nicely  as  I could  that  it  would  be  impos- 
sible for  Miss  Carl  to  work  at  that  hour  of  the 
day.  Her  Majesty  replied:  “Well,  we  have 
electric  lights  here.  Surely  that  would  be  suffi- 
cient light  for  her.”  Then  I had  to  explain  that 
it  would  not  be  possible  to  get  such  good  results 
by  means  of  artificial  light  as  if  it  were  painted 
during  the  daytime.  You  see  I was  anxious  to 


214>  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


get  her  to  change  the  hour,  as  I was  sure  that 
Miss  Carl  would  refuse  to  paint  by  means  of 
electric  light.  Her  Majesty  replied:  “What  a 
bother.  I can  paint  pictures  myself  in  any  kind 
of  light,  and  she  ought  to  be  able  to  do  the  same.” 
After  much  discussion  it  was  finally  settled  that 
10  o’clock  on  the  morning  of  the  twentieth  day 
of  the  second-fifth  moon  should  be  the  time  for 
Miss  Carl  to  commence  to  paint  this  portrait,  and 
I can  assure  you  that  I felt  very  much  relieved 
when  it  was  all  settled.  When  the  eunuch 
brought  in  my  portrait,  he  also  brought  in  sev- 
eral photographs  which  I had  had  taken  during 
my  stay  in  Paris,  but  I decided  not  to  show  them 
to  Her  Majesty  in  case  she  should  decide  to  have 
a photograph  taken  instead  of  having  this  portrait 
painted,  as  it  would  he  much  quicker  and  save 
her  the  trouble  of  sitting  each  day.  However,  as 
Her  Majesty  was  passing  on  the  veranda  in 
front  of  my  bedroom  the  next  morning  she 
stepped  into  the  room  just  to  have  a look  around 
and,  as  she  put  it,  to  see  whether  I kept  every- 
thing clean,  and  in  good  order.  This  was  the 
first  time  she  had  visited  me  in  my  own  room, 
and  I was  naturally  very  much  embarrassed,  as 
she  very  rarely  visited  the  rooms  of  her  Court 
ladies.  I could  not  keep  her  standing,  and  I 
could  not  ask  her  to  sit  down  in  any  of  my  own 
chairs,  as  it  is  the  Chinese  custom  that  the  Em- 


THE  EMPRESS’S  PORTRAIT 


215 


peror  and  Empress  should  only  sit  down  in  their 
own  special  chairs,  which  are  usually  carried  by 
an  attendant  wherever  they  go.  I therefore  was 
on  the  point  of  giving  an  order  for  her  own  stool 
to  be  brought  in,  when  Her  Majesty  stopped 
me  and  said  that  she  would  sit  on  one  of  the 
chaim  in  the  room,  and  so  bring  me  good  luck. 
So  she  sat  down  in  an  easy  chair.  A eunuch 
brought  in  her  tea,  which  I handed  to  her  myself 
instead  of  letting  the  eunuch  wait  upon  her. 
This  of  course  was  Court  etiquette,  and  was  also 
a sign  of  respect. 

After  she  had  finished  her  tea,  she  got  up  and 
went  around  the  room,  examining  everything, 
opening  up  all  my  bureau  drawers  and  boxes  in 
order  to  see  whether  I kept  my  things  in  proper 
order.  Happening  to  glance  into  one  corner  of 
the  room  she  exclaimed:  “What  are  those  pic- 
tures on  the  table  over  there,”  and  walked  across 
to  examine  them.  As  soon  as  she  picked  them 
up,  she  exclaimed  in  much  surprise:  “Why,  they 
are  all  photographs  of  yourself,  and  are  very 
much  better  than  the  picture  you  had  painted. 
They  are  more  like  you.  Why  didn’t  you  show 
them  to  me  before?”  I hardly  knew  what  to  an- 
swer, and  when  she  saw  that  I was  very  much  em- 
barrassed by  her  question,  she  immediately 
started  talking  about  something  else.  She  often 
acted  in  this  manner  when  she  saw  that  any  of  us 


216  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


were  not  quite  prepared  for  any  of  her  questions, 
but  she  would  be  sure  to  reopen  the  subject  at 
some  future  time,  when  we  were  expected  to  give 
a direct  answer. 

After  examining  the  photographs  for  some- 
time, which  by  the  way,  were  all  taken  in  Euro- 
pean dress,  Her  Majesty  said:  “Now  these  are 
good  photographs ; much  better  than  the  portrait 
you  had  painted.  Still  I have  given  my  prom- 
ise, and  I suppose  I shall  have  to  keep  it.  How- 
ever, if  I do  have  my  photograph  taken,  it  will 
not  interfere  at  all  with  the  painting  of  the  por- 
trait. The  only  trouble  is  I cannot  ask  an  ordi- 
nary professional  photographer  to  the  Palace. 
It  would  hardly  be  the  thing.” 

My  mother  thereupon  explained  to  Her  Maj- 
esty that  if  she  desired  to  have  her  photograph 
taken,  one  of  my  brothers,  who  had  studied  pho- 
tography for  some  considerable  time,  would  be 
able  to  do  all  that  was  necessary. 

I would  like  to  explain  that  I had  two  brothers 
at  Court  at  that  time,  who  held  appointments 
under  the  Empress  Dowager.  One  was  in 
charge  of  all  the  electrical  installation  at  the 
Summer  Palace,  and  the  other,  her  private 
steam  launch.  It  was  the  custom  for  all  the 
sons  of  the  Manchu  officials  to  hold  certain 
positions  at  the  Court  for  two  or  three  years. 
They  were  perfectly  free  to  walk  about  the 


THE  EMPRESS’S  PORTRAIT 


217 


grounds  of  the  Palace,  and  saw  Her  Majesty 
daily.  Her  Majesty  was  always  very  kind  to 
these  young  men,  and  chatted  with  them  in  quite 
a motherly  way.  These  young  fellows  had  to 
come  to  the  Palace  each  morning  very  early,  but 
as  no  man  was  allowed  to  stay  all  night  in  the 
Palace  they  of  course  had  to  leave  when  they 
had  finished  their  duties  for  the  day. 

When  Her  Majesty  heard  what  my  mother 
said,  she  was  very  much  surprised,  and  asked 
why  she  had  never  been  told  that  my  brother 
was  learned  in  photography.  My  mother  replied 
that  she  had  no  idea  that  Her  Majesty  wished  to 
have  a photograph  taken,  and  had  not  dared  to 
suggest  such  a thing  herself.  Her  Maj- 
esty laughed,  and  said:  “You  may  suggest  any- 
thing you  like,  as  I want  to  try  anything  that  is 
new  to  me,  especially  as  outsiders  can  know 
nothing  about  it.”  She  gave  orders  to  send  for 
my  brother  at  once.  On  his  arrival  Her  Maj- 
esty said  to  him:  “I  hear  that  you  are  a photog- 
rapher. I am  going  to  give  you  something  to 
do.”  My  brother  was  kneeling,  as  was  the  cus- 
tom of  the  Court,  whilst  Her  Majesty  was 
addressing  him.  Everybody,  with  the  exception 
of  the  Court  ladies,  had  to  kneel  when  she  was 
speaking  to  them.  Even  the  Emperor  himself 
was  no  exception  to  this  rule.  Of  course  the 
Court  ladies,  being  constantly  in  attendance, 


218  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


were  allowed  not  to  kneel,  as  Her  Majesty  was 
talking  to  us  all  the  time,  and  it  was  her  orders 
that  we  should  not  do  so,  as  it  would  be  wasting 
a lot  of  time. 

Her  Majesty  asked  my  brother  when  he  would 
be  able  to  come  and  take  her  photograph,  and 
what  kind  of  weather  was  necessary.  My 
brother  said  that  he  would  go  back  to  Peking 
that  night,  to  fetch  his  camera,  and  that  he  could 
take  the  photograph  at  any  time  she  desired,  as 
the  weather  would  not  affect  the  work.  So  Her 
Majesty  decided  to  have  her  photograph  taken 
the  next  morning.  She  said:  “I  want  to  have 
one  taken  first  of  all  in  my  chair,  when  going  to 
the  audience,  and  you  can  take  some  others  after- 
wards.” She  also  asked  my  brother  how  long 
she  would  have  to  sit,  and  was  surprised  to  learn 
that  only  a few  seconds  would  suffice.  Next 
she  enquired  how  long  it  would  be  before  it  was 
finished,  so  that  she  could  see  it.  My  brother 
answered  that  if  it  were  taken  in  the  morning 
it  could  be  finished  late  the  same  afternoon.  Her 
Majesty  said  that  was  delightful,  and  expressed 
a wish  to  watch  him  do  the  work.  She  told  my 
brother  that  he  might  select  any  room  in  the  Pal- 
ace to  work  in,  and  ordered  a eunuch  to  make 
the  necessary  preparations. 

The  next  day  was  a beautiful  day,  and  at  eight 
o’clock  my  brother  was  waiting  in  the  courtyard 


THE  EMPRESS’S  PORTRAIT 


219 


with  several  cameras.  Her  Majesty;  went  to  the 
courtyard  and  examined  each  of  them.  She 
said:  “How  funny  it  is  that  you  can  take  a per- 
son’s picture  with  a thing  like  that.”  After  the 
method  of  taking  the  photograph  had  been  fully 
explained  to  her,  she  commanded  one  of  the 
eunuchs  to  stand  in  front  of  the  camera  so  that 
she  might  look  through  the  focusing  glass,  to 
see  what  it  was  like.  Her  Majesty  exclaimed: 
“Why  is  it  your  head  is  upside  down?  Are  you 
standing  on  your  head  or  feet?”  So  we  ex- 
plained when  the  photo  was  taken  it  would  not 
look  that  way.  She  was  delighted  with  the  re- 
sult of  her  observations,  and  said  that  it  was 
marvellous.  Finally  she  told  me  to  go  and 
stand  there,  as  she  wanted  to  have  a look  at  me 
through  this  glass  also.  She  then  exchanged 
places  with  me,  and  desired  that  I should  look 
through  the  glass  and  see  if  I could  make  out 
what  she  wyas  doing.  She  waved  her  hand  in 
front  of  the  camera,  and  on  my  telling  her  of  it, 
she  was  pleased. 

She  then  entered  her  chair,  and  ordered  the 
bearers  to  proceed.  My  brother  took  another 
photograph  of  Her  Majesty  in  the  procession  as 
she  passed  the  camera.  After  she  had  passed  the 
camera  she  turned  and  asked  my  brother:  “Did 
you  take  a picture?”  and  on  my  brother  answer- 
ing that  he  had,  Her  Majesty  said:  “Why  didn’t 


220  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


you  tell  me?  I was  looking  too  serious.  Next 
time  when  you  are  going  to  take  one,  let  me 
know  so  that  I may  try  and  look  pleasant.” 

I knew  that  Her  Majesty  was  very  much 
pleased.  While  we  were  at  the  back  of  the 
screen  during  the  audience,  I noticed  that  she 
seemed  anxious  to  get  it  over,  in  order  to  have 
some  more  photographs  taken.  It  only  took 
about  twenty  minutes  to  get  that  particular  au- 
dience over,  which  was  very  rare. 

After  the  people  had  gone,  we  came  from  be- 
hind the  screen  and  Her  Majesty  said:  “Let 
us  go  and  have  some  more  pictures  taken  while 
the  weather  is  fine.”  So  she  walked  the  court- 
yard of  the  Audience  Hall,  where  my  brother 
had  a camera  ready,  and  had  another  photo- 
graph taken.  She  said  that  she  would  like  to 
have  some  taken  sitting  on  her  throne,  exactly 
as  though  she  were  holding  an  audience.  It 
took  us  only  a few  minutes  to  have  everything 
prepared  in  the  courtyard.  The  screen  was 
placed  behind  the  throne,  and  her  footstool  was 
also  placed  ready  for  her,  and  she  ordered  one 
of  the  Court  ladies  to  go  and  bring  several  gowns 
for  her  to  select  from.  At  the  same  time  I went 
and  brought  some  of  her  favorite  jewelry.  She 
ordered  the  two  gowns  which  she  had  worn  at 
the  audiences  when  she  received  Admiral  Evans 
and  Mrs.  Evans,  to  be  brought  in,  and  also  the 


The  writer  assisting  Her  Imperial  Majesty,  the  Empress 
Dowager  of  China,  going  down  Peony  Hill  toward 
her  Palace 


THE  EMPRESS’S  PORTRAIT 


221 


same  jewels  as  she  had  worn  on  those  respective 
occasions.  She  had  two  photographs  taken  in 
these  costumes,  one  in  each  dress.  Next  she 
wanted  one  taken  in  a plain  gown,  without  any 
embroidery.  She  then  ordered  my  brother  to 
go  and  finish  the  pictures  which  had  already  been 
taken,  as  she  was  anxious  to  see  what  they  were 
like.  She  said  to  my  brother:  “You  wait  a min- 
ute, I want  to  go  with  you  and  see  how  you  work 
on  them.”  Of  course,  I had  not  considered  it 
necessary  to  explain  to  Her  Majesty  the  process 
of  developing  the  pictures,  the  dark  room,  etc., 
so  I explained  to  her  as  well  as  I could  the  whole 
thing.  Her  Majesty  replied:  “It  doesn’t  mat- 
ter. I want  to  go  and  see  the  room,  no  matter 
what  kind  of  a room  it  is.”  So  we  all  adjourned 
to  the  dark  room  in  order  to  see  my  brother  work 
on  the  photographs.  We  placed  a chair  so  that 
Her  Majesty  could  sit  down.  She  said  to  my 
brother:  “You  must  forget  that  I am  here,  and 
go  along  with  your  work  just  as  usual.”  She 
watched  for  a while,  and  was  very  pleased  when 
she  saw  that  the  plates  were  developing  so 
quickly.  My  brother  held  up  the  plate  to  the 
red  light,  to  enable  her  to  see  more  distinctly. 
Her  Majesty  said:  “It  is  not  very  clear.  I can 
see  that  it  is  myself  all  right,  but  why  is  it  that 
my  face  and  hands  are  dark?”  We  explained 
to  her  that  when  the  picture  was  printed  on 


222  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


paper,  these  dark  spots  would  show  white,  and 
the  white  parts  would  be  dark.  She  said: 
“Well,  one  is  never  too  old  to  learn.  This  is 
something  really  new  to  me.  I am  not  sorry 
that  I suggested  having  my  photograph  taken, 
and  only  hope  that  I shall  like  the  portrait  paint- 
ing as  well.”  She  said  to  my  brother:  “Don’t 
finish  these  photographs  until  after  I have  had 
my  afternoon  rest.  I want  to  see  you  do  it.” 
When  she  got  up  at  about  half-past  three,  it  did 
not  take  her  long  to  dress  herself,  as  was  her 
usual  custom,  and  she  went  immediately  to  where 
my  brother  had  the  papers  and  everything  pre- 
pared. lie  then  showed  Her  Majesty  how  the 
printing  was  done.  There  was  plenty  of  light, 
as  it  was  summer  time,  and  as  it  was  only  four 
o’clock  in  the  afternoon,  the  sun  was  still  high. 
Her  Majesty  watched  for  two  hours  while  my 
brother  was  printing,  and  was  delighted  to  see 
each  picture  come  out  quite  plainly.  She  held 
the  first  one  in  her  hands  so  long  while  exam- 
ining the  others,  that  when  she  came  to  look  at 
it  again,  she  found  that  it  had  turned  quite  black. 
She  could  not  understand  this  at  all,  and  ex- 
claimed: “Why  has  this  gone  black?  Is  it  bad 
luck?”  We  explained  to  her  that  it  must  be 
washed  after  printing,  otherwise  a strong  light 
would  cause  the  picture  to  fade,  as  this  one  had 


THE  EMPRESS’S  PORTRAIT 


223 


done.  She  said:  “How  very  interesting,  and 
what  a lot  of  work  there  is.” 

After  the  printing  process  had  been  finished, 
my  brother  placed  the  pictures  in  a chemical 
bath,  as  usual,  finally  washing  them  in  clean 
water.  This  caused  Her  Majesty  even  more  sur- 
prise when  she  saw  how  clear  the  pictures  came 
out,  and  caused  her  to  exclaim:  “How  extraor- 
dinary. Everything  is  quite  true  to  life.” 
When  they  were  finally  completed,  she  took  the 
whole  of  them  to  her  own  room  and  sat  down  on 
her  little  throne,  and  gazed  at  them  for  a long 
time.  She  even  took  her  mirror  in  order  to  com- 
pare her  reflection  with  the  photographs  just 
taken. 

All  this  time  my  brother  was  standing  in  the 
courtyard  awaiting  Her  Majesty’s  further  com- 
mands. Suddenly  she  recollected  this  fact,  and 
said:  “Why,  I had  forgotten  all  about  your 
brother.  The  poor  fellow  must  be  still  standing 
waiting  to  know  what  I want  next.  You  go 
and  tell  him — no,  I had  better  go  and  speak 
to  him  myself.  He  has  worked  so  hard  all  the 
day,  that  I want  to  say  something  to  make  him 
feel  happy.”  She  ordered  my  brother  to  print 
ten  copies  of  each  of  the  photographs,  and  to 
leave  all  his  cameras  at  the  Palace,  in  order  that 
he  could  proceed  with  the  work  the  next  day. 

The  following  ten  days  it  rained  contin- 


224  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


ually,  which  made  Her  Majesty  very  impatient, 
as  it  was  impossible  to  take  any  more  photo- 
graphs until  the  weather  improved.  Her 
Majesty  wanted  to  have  some  taken  in  the 
Throne  Room,  but  this  room  was  too  dark,  the 
upper  windows  being  pasted  over  with  thick 
paper,  only  the  lower  windows  allowing  the  light 
to  enter.  My  brother  tried  several  times,  but 
failed  to  get  a good  picture. 

During  this  rainy  period  the  Court  was  moved 
to  the  Sea  Palace,  as  the  Emperor  was  to  sacrifice 
at  the  Temple  of  Earth.  This  was  a yearly  cere- 
mony and  was  carried  out  on  similar  lines  to  all 
other  annual  ceremonies.  On  account  of  the 
rain  Her  Majesty  ordered  that  boats  should  be 
brought  alongside  the  west  shore  of  the  Summer 
Palace.  On  entering  the  boats,  Her  Majesty, 
accompanied  by  the  Court,  proceeded  to  the 
Western  Gate  of  the  city,  and  on  arrival  at  the 
last  bridge,  disembarked.  Chairs  were  awaiting 
us  and  we  rode  to  the  gate  of  the  Sea  Palace. 
There  we  again  entered  the  boats  and  proceeded 
across  the  lake,  a distance  of  about  a mile. 
While  crossing  the  lake  Her  Majesty  noticed  a 
lot  of  lotus  plants  which  were  in  full  bloom.  She 
said:  “We  are  going  to  stay  at  least  three  days 
here.  I hope  the  weather  will  be  fine,  as  I 
should  like  to  have  some  photographs  taken  in 
the  open  boats  on  the  lake.  I have  also  another 


THE  EMPRESS’S  PORTRAIT 


225 


good  idea,  and  that  is,  I Avant  to  have  one  taken 
as  ‘Kuan  Yin’  (Goddess  of  Mersy).  The  two 
chief  eunuchs  will  be  dressed  as  attendants.  The 
necessary  gowns  were  made  some  time  ago,  and 
I occasionally  put  them  on.  Whenever  I have 
been  angry,  or  worried  over  anything,  by  dress- 
ing up  as  the  Goddess  of  Mercy  it  helps  me  to 
cahn  myself,  and  so  play  the  part  I represent.  I 
can  assure  you  that  it  does  help  me  a great  deal, 
as  it  makes  me  remember  that  I am  looked  upon 
as  being  all-merciful.  By  having  a photograph 
taken  of  myself  dressed  in  this  costume,  I shall 
he  able  to  see  myself  as  I ought  to  be  at  all  times.” 
When  we  arrived  at  the  private  Palace  the 
rain  ceased.  We  walked  to  her  bedroom, 
although  the  ground  was  still  in  had  condition. 
One  of  Her  Majesty’s  peculiarities  was  a desire 
to  go  out  in  the  rain  and  walk  about.  She  would 
not  even  use  an  umbrella  unless  it  was  raining 
very  heavily.  The  eunuchs  always  carried  our 
umbrellas,  but  if  Her  Majesty  did  not  use  her 
umbrella,  of  course  we  could  not  very  well  use 
ours.  The  same  thing  applied  in  everything. 
If  Her  Majesty  wanted  to  walk,  we  had  to  walk 
also,  and  if  she  decided  to  ride  in  her  chair,  we 
had  to  get  into  our  chairs  and  ride  as  well.  The 
only  exception  to  this  rule  was  when  Her  Maj- 
esty, being  tired  walking,  ordered  her  stool  to 
rest  on.  We  were  not  allowed  to  sit  in  her  pres- 


226  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


ence,  but  had  to  stand  all  the  time.  Her  Maj- 
esty liked  her  Sea  Palace  better  than  her  Palace 
in  the  Forbidden  City.  It  was  far  prettier,  and 
had  the  effect  of  making  her  good  tempered. 

Her  Majesty  ordered  us  to  retire  early  that 
day,  as  we  were  all  very  tired  after  the  trip,  and 
said  that  in  the  event  of  it  being  fine  the  next 
day,  she  would  have  the  proposed  photographs 
taken.  However,  much  to  Her  Majesty’s  dis- 
appointment, it  rained  incessantly  for  the  next 
three  days,  so  it  was  decided  to  stay  a few  days 
longer.  On  the  last  day  of  our  stay  it  cleared 
up  sufficiently  to  enable  the  photographs  to  be 
taken,  after  which  we  all  returned  to  the  Sum- 
mer Palace. 

The  day  after  our  arrival  at  the  Summer  Pal- 
ace Her  Majesty  said  that  we  had  better  prepare 
everything  for  the  audience  to  receive  the  lady 
artist  (Miss  Carl).  She  told  the  chief  eunuch 
to  issue  orders  to  all  the  other  eunuchs  not  to 
speak  to  Miss  Carl,  but  simply  be  polite  as  occa- 
sion required.  We  Court  ladies  received  similar 
orders.  Also,  that  we  were  not  to  address  Her 
Majesty  while  Miss  Carl  was  present.  The 
Emperor  received  similar  instructions.  Her 
Majesty  gave  orders  to  have  the  Gardens  of 
Prince  Chung’s  Palace  ready.  She  then  said  to 
us:  “I  trust  you  three  to  look  after  this  lady 
artist.  I have  already  given  orders  for  food 


THE  EMPRESS’S  PORTRAIT 


227 


to  be  supplied  by  the  Wai  Wu  Pu.  The  only 
thing  that  I have  been  worried  about  is  that  I 
have  no  foreign  food  here  for  Miss  Carl.”  She 
ordered  us  to  have  our  stove  taken  over  to  Prince 
Chung’s  Palace  in  case  Miss  Carl  desired  some- 
thing cooked.  She  said:  “I  know  it  will  be  very 
hard  for  you  to  take  her  to  the  Palace  each  morn- 
ing and  return  with  her  at  night,  besides  having  to 
watch  her  all  day  long,  but  I know  you  do  not 
mind.  You  are  doing  all  this  for  me.”  After 
a while  she  smiled,  and  said:  “How  selfish  of 
me.  I order  you  to  bring  all  your  things  to  this 
place,  but  what  is  your  father  going  to  do  ? The 
best  thing  will  be  to  ask  your  father  to  come  and 
live  in  the  same  place.  The  country  air  might 
benefit  him.”  We  kowtowed  and  thanked  Her 
Majesty,  as  this  was  a special  favor,  no  official 
nor  anyone  else  having  been  allowed  to  live  in 
Prince  Chung’s  Palace  previously.  We  all  were 
very  jfieased — I could  now  see  my  father  every 
day.  Hitherto  we  had  only  been  able  to  see 
him  about  once  a month,  and  then  only  by  asking 
special  leave. 

The  next  day  Her  Majesty  sent  us  to  Prince 
Chung’s  Palace  to  make  all  necessary  arrange- 
ments for  Miss  Carl’s  stay. 

This  Palace  of  Prince  Chung’s  was  a magnifi- 
cent place.  All  the  smaller  dwellings  were  quite 
separate  from  each  other,  not  in  one  large  build- 


££8  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


ing,  as  was  the  custom.  There  was  a small  lake 
in  the  grounds,  and  lovely  little  paths  to  walk 
along,  exactly  like  the  Empress  Dowager’s  Sum- 
mer Palace,  but,  of  course,  on  a much  smaller 
scale.  We  selected  one  of  these  small  dwellings, 
or  summer  houses,  for  the  use  of  Miss  Carl 
during  her  stay,  and  had  it  fitted  up  nicely,  to 
make  her  as  comfortable  as  possible.  We  our- 
selves were  to  occupy  the  next  house  to  Miss 
Carl,  in  order  that  we  might  always  be  on 
hand,  and  at  the  same  time  keep  a good  eye  on 
her.  We  returned  to  the  Summer  Palace  the 
same  evening,  and  told  Her  Majesty  just  how 
everything  had  been  arranged.  She  said:  “I 
want  you  all  to  he  very  careful  not  to  let  this 
lady  know  that  you  are  watching  her.”  She 
seemed  very  anxious  about  this,  repeating  these 
instructions  for  several  days  prior  to  Miss  Carl’s 
arrival. 

I felt  very  much  relieved  when  the  day  before 
the  audience  arrived,  and  everything  was  finally 
fixed  to  Her  Majesty’s  satisfaction.  She 
ordered  us  to  retire  early  that  evening,  as  she 
wanted  to  rest  and  look  well  the  next  morning. 
When  morning  came  we  hurried  over  every- 
thing, even  the  usual  morning  audience,  so  that 
we  could  be  ready  when  Miss  Carl  arrived. 

While  I was  standing  behind  the  screen,  as 
usual,  a eunuch  came  and  told  me  that  Mrs. 


THE  EMPRESS’S  PORTRAIT 


229 


Conger,  the  artist,  and  another  lady  had  arrived, 
and  that  they  were  now  in  the  waiting  room.  By 
that  time  the  audience  was  about  finished.  The 
chief  eunuch  came  in  and  told  Her  Majesty  that 
the  foreign  ladies  had  arrived  and  were  waiting 
in  another  room.  Her  Majesty  said  to  us:  “I 
think  I will  go  to  the  courtyard  and  meet  them 
there.”  Of  course,  at  all  private  audiences  Her 
Majesty  received  the  people  in  the  Throne  Room, 
but  as  Miss  Carl  was  more  of  a guest,  she  did 
not  think  it  necessary  to  go  through  the  usual 
formal  reception. 

While  we  were  descending  the  steps  we  saw 
the  ladies  entering  the  gate  of  the  courtyard.  I 
pointed  out  Miss  Carl  to  Her  Majesty,  and 
noticed  that  she  eyed  Miss  Carl  very  keenly. 
When  we  arrived  in  the  courtyard,  Mrs.  Conger 
came  forward  and  greeted  Her  Majesty  and 
then  presented  Miss  Carl.  Her  Majesty’s  first 
impression  of  Miss  Carl  was  a good  one,  as  Miss 
Carl  was  smiling  very  pleasantly,  and  Her 
Majesty,  who  always  liked  to  see  a pleasant 
smile,  exclaimed  to  me  in  an  undertone:  “She 
seems  to  be  a very  pleasant  person,”  to  which  I 
replied  that  I was  very  glad  she  thought  so,  as  I 
was  very  anxious  about  the  impression  Miss  Carl 
would  make  on  Her  Majesty.  Her  Majesty 
watched  Miss  Carl  and  myself  as  we  greeted 
each  other,  and  I could  see  that  she  wTas  satis- 


230  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


fied.  She  told  me  afterwards  that  she  had  no- 
ticed Miss  Carl  appeared  very  glad  to  see  me 
again,  and  said:  “We  will  handle  her  pretty 
easily,  I think.”  Her  Majesty  then  went  to  her 
own  private  Palace,  and  we  all  followed.  On 
our  arrival,  Miss  Carl  told  me  that  she  had 
brought  her  own  canvas.  This  was  a piece  about 
six  feet  by  four  feet.  I had  told  Miss  Carl  a 
little  previously  that  Her  Majesty  refused  to  sit 
for  a very  small  portrait  and  that  she  would  like 
a life-size  one.  When  Her  Majesty  saw  the 
canvas  she  appeared  to  be  very  much  disap- 
pointed, as  in  her  opinion  even  that  was  not  large 
enough.  We  placed  the  tables  ready  for  Miss 
Carl,  and  Her  Majesty  asked  her  to  choose  the 
position  in  which  she  wished  to  paint.  I knew 
that  Miss  Carl  would  have  great  difficulty  in 
choosing  a good  position  on  account  of  the  win- 
dows being  built  so  low,  there  being  very  lit- 
tle light  except  low  down  near  the  ground. 
However,  Miss  Carl  finally  placed  the  canvas 
near  the  door  of  the  room.  Her  Majesty  told 
Mrs.  Conger  and  the  rest  to  sit  down  for  a while 
as  she  wanted  to  change  into  another  gown.  I 
followed  her  into  her  bedroom.  The  first  ques- 
tion Her  Majesty  asked  was  how  old  I thought 
Miss  Carl  was,  as  she  herself  could  not  guess 
her  age,  her  hair  being  extremely  light,  in  fact  al- 
most white.  I could  hardly  refrain  from  laugh- 


THE  EMPRESS’S  PORTRAIT 


231 


ing  outright  on  hearing  this,  and  told  Her 
Majesty  that  Miss  Carl’s  hair  was  naturally  of  a 
light  color.  Her  Majesty  said  that  she  had 
often  seen  ladies  with  golden  hair,  but  never  one 
with  white  hair,  excepting  old  ladies.  She  said: 
“I  think  that  she  is  very  nice,  however,  and  hope 
she  will  paint  a good  portrait.” 

Turning  to  one  of  the  Court  ladies,  she  ordered 
her  to  fetch  a yellow  gown  as  although,  as  she 
put  it,  she  did  not  like  yellow,  she  thought  it 
would  be  the  best  color  for  a portrait.  She 
selected  one  from  a number  which  the  Court  lady 
brought,  embroidered  all  over  with  purple  wis- 
teria. Her  shoes  and  handkerchiefs  matched. 
She  also  wore  a blue  silk  scarf,  embroidered  with 
the  character  “Shou”  (long  life).  Each  char- 
acter had  a pearl  in  the  center.  She  wore  a pair 
of  jade  bracelets  and  also  jade  nail  protectors. 
In  addition  she  wore  jade  butterflies  and  a tassel 
on  one  side  of  her  headdress,  and,  as  usual,  fresh 
flowers  on  the  other  side.  Her  Majesty  cer- 
tainly did  look  beautiful  on  that  occasion. 

By  the  time  she  came  out  from  her  room  Miss 
Carl  had  everything  prepared.  When  she  saw 
how  Her  Majesty  was  dressed,  she  exclaimed: 
“How  beautiful  Her  Majesty  looks  in  this 
dress,”  which  remark  I interpreted  to  Her 
Majesty,  and  it  pleased  her  very  much. 

She  seated  herself  on  her  throne,  ready  to  pose 


232  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


for  the  picture.  She  just  sat  down  in  an  ordi- 
nary easy  position,  placing  one  hand  on  a cushion. 
Miss  Carl  explained:  “That  is  an  excellent  posi- 
tion, as  it  is  so  natural.  Please  do  not  move.” 
I told  Her  Majesty  what  Miss  Carl  said,  and 
she  asked  me  whether  she  looked  all  right,  or  not. 
If  not,  she  would  change  her  position.  I assured 
her  that  she  looked  very  grand  in  that  position. 
However,  she  asked  the  opinion  of  the  Young 
Empress  and  some  of  the  Court  ladies,  who  all 
agreed  that  she  could  not  look  better.  I could 
see  that  they  never  looked  at  Her  Majesty  at  all, 
they  were  too  much  interested  in  what  Miss  Carl 
was  doing. 

When  Miss  Carl  commenced  to  make  the 
rough  sketch  of  Her  Majesty  everyone  watched 
with  open  mouth,  as  they  had  never  seen  any- 
thing done  so  easily  and  so  naturally.  The 
Young  Empress  whispered  to  me:  “Although  I 
don’t  know  anything  about  portrait  painting, 
still  I can  see  that  she  is  a good  artist.  She  has 
never  seen  any  of  our  clothes  and  headdresses, 
and  she  has  copied  them  exactly.  Just  imagine 
one  of  our  Chinese  artists  trying  to  paint  a for- 
eign lady,  what  a mess  he  would  make  of  it.” 

After  the  sketch  was  finished  Her  Majesty 
was  delighted  and  thought  it  was  wonderful  for 
Miss  Carl  to  have  made  it  so  quickly  and  so  accu- 
rately. I explained  that  this  was  a rough  sketch 


THE  EMPRESS’S  PORTRAIT 


233 


and  that  when  Miss  Carl  commenced  painting, 
she  would  soon  see  the  difference.  Her  Majesty- 
told  me  to  ask  Miss  Carl  whether  she  was  tired 
and  would  like  to  rest;  also  to  tell  her  that  she 
was  very  busy  all  the  day,  and  would  only  be 
able  to  give  her  a few  minutes’  sitting  each  day. 
We  then  took  Miss  Carl  to  luncheon,  together 
with  Mrs.  Conger,  and  after  luncheon  we  accom- 
panied Pier  Majesty  to  the  theatre. 

After  Mrs.  Conger  had  departed  I took  Miss 
Carl  to  my  room  to  rest.  As  soon  as  we  arrived 
there,  Her  Majesty  sent  a eunuch  to  call  me  to 
her  bedroom.  Her  Majesty  said:  “I  don’t  want 
this  lady  to  paint  during  my  afternoon  rest. 
She  can  rest  at  the  same  time.  As  soon  as  I 
am  up  you  can  bring  her  here  to  paint.  I am 
glad  that  it  looks  like  turning  out  better  than 
I had  anticipated.”  I therefore  told  Miss  Carl 
Her  Majesty’s  wishes  in  this  respect  and  that 
she  could  paint  for  a little  while,  if  she  chose  to, 
after  Her  Majesty  had  had  her  rest.  Miss  Carl 
was  so  interested  in  Her  Majesty,  she  told  me 
she  didn’t  want  to  rest  at  all,  but  that  she  would 
like  to  go  on  with  the  painting  right  away.  Of 
course,  I did  not  like  to  tell  her  anything  the  first 
day,  as  it  might  upset  her,  and  did  not  say  that 
this  was  a command  from  Her  Majesty.  After 
a lot  of  maneuvering  I got  her  to  give  up  the  idea 
of  continuing  straight  off,  without  offending  her. 


234,  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


I took  her  out  on  the  veranda  as  the  eunuch 
was  preparing  the  table  for  Her  Majesty’s  din- 
ner in  the  room  we  were  then  occupying.  The 
Young  Empress  kept  Miss  Carl  busy  talking,  I 
acting  as  interpreter.  Soon  one  of  the  eunuchs 
came  and  informed  us  that  Her  Majesty  had 
finished  dinner,  and  would  we  please  come  and 
take  ours.  On  entering  the  room  I was  very 
much  surprised  to  see  that  chairs  had  been  placed 
there,  as  this  had  never  been  done  previously, 
everybody,  with  the  exception  of  Her  Majesty, 
taking  their  meals  standing.  The  Young  Em- 
press was  also  very  much  surprised  and  asked 
me  whether  I knew  anything  about  it.  I said 
that  perhaps  it  was  on  account  of  Miss  Carl 
being  there.  The  Young  Empress  told  me  to 
go  over  and  ask  Her  Majesty,  as  she  was  afraid 
to  sit  down  without  receiving  orders  to  do  so. 
Her  Majesty  whispered  to  me:  “I  don’t  want 
Miss  Carl  to  think  we  are  barbarians,  and  treat 
the  Young  Empress  and  the  Court  ladies  in  that 
manner.  Of  course,  she  does  not  understand  our 
Court  etiquette  and  might  form  a wrong  impres- 
sion, so  you  can  all  sit  down  without  coming  over 
to  thank  me,  but  be  natural,  as  though  you  were 
accustomed  to  sitting  down  to  dinner  every  day.” 
After  Her  Majesty  had  washed  her  hands  she 
came  over  to  our  table.  Of  course  we  all  stood 
up.  Her  Majesty  told  me  to  ask  Miss  Carl 


THE  EMPRESS’S  PORTRAIT 


235 


whether  she  liked  the  food,  and  was  pleased  when 
Miss  Carl  answered  that  she  liked  the  food  bet- 
ter than  her  own  kind.  That  relieved  Her  Maj- 
esty. 

After  dinner  was  over  I told  Miss  Carl  to  say 
good-bye  to  Her  Majesty.  We  courtesied  to 
her,  also  to  the  Young  Empress,  and  said  good 
night  to  the  Court  ladies.  We  then  took  Miss 
Carl  to  the  Palace  of  Prince  Chung.  It  took 
us  about  ten  minutes’  ride  in  the  carts.  We 
showed  Miss  Carl  her  bedroom,  and  were  pleased 
to  leave  her  and  get  to  our  own  rooms,  for  a 
good  night’s  rest. 

The  next  morning  we  took  Miss  Carl  to  the 
Palace,  and  arrived  there  during  the  morning 
audience.  Of  course  Miss  Carl,  being  a for- 
eigner, could  not  enter  the  Throne  Room,  so  we 
sat  down  on  the  back  veranda  of  the  Audience 
Hall  and  waited  until  it  was  over.  This,  of 
course,  prevented  my  being  in  attendance  each 
morning,  as  usual,  and  was  a great  disappoint- 
ment to  me,  as  I was  unable  to  keep  in 
touch  with  what  was  taking  place.  Moreover, 
during  the  time  I had  been  at  Court,  my  one 
object  had  been  to  endeavor  to  interest  Her 
Majesty  in  Western  customs  and  civilization.  I 
believed  that  to  a great  extent  Her  Majesty  was 
becoming  interested  in  these  things,  and  would 
refer  the  subjects  of  our  conversations  to  her 


236  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


Ministers,  for  their  opinions.  For  instance,  I 
had  shown  her  photographs  taken  of  a Naval 
Review  at  which  I was  present  in  France.  Her 
Majesty  seemed  to  be  impressed,  and  said  that 
she  would  certainly  like  to  be  able  to  make  a 
similar  display  in  China.  This  matter  she  con- 
sulted with  her  Ministers,  but  they  gave  the 
usual  evasive  answer,  viz.:  “There  is  plenty  of 
time  for  that.”  From  this  you  will  see  that  Her 
Majesty  was  not  able  to  introduce  reforms 
entirely  alone,  even  though  she  might  desire  to 
do  so,  but  had  to  consult  the  Ministers,  who 
would  always  agree  with  Her  Majesty,  but 
would  suggest  that  the  matter  be  put  off  for  a 
time. 

My  experience  while  at  the  Palace  was  that 
everybody  seemed  to  be  afraid  to  suggest  any- 
thing new  for  fear  they  might  get  themselves 
into  trouble. 

When  Her  Majesty  came  out  from  the  Audi- 
ence Hall,  Miss  Carl  went  up  to  her  and  kissed 
Her  Majesty’s  hand,  which  caused  her  great 
surprise,  although  she  did  not  show  it  at  the  time. 
Afterwards,  however,  when  we  were  alone,  she 
asked  me  why  Miss  Carl  had  done  this,  as  it  was 
not  a Chinese  custom.  She  naturally  thought 
that  it  must  be  a foreign  custom,  and  therefore 
said  nothing  about  it. 

Her  Majesty  then  proceeded  on  foot  to  her 


THE  EMPRESS’S  PORTRAIT 


237 


own  Palace,  to  change  her  dress  for  the  por- 
trait. It  was  a beautiful  morning,  and  when 
she  had  posed  for  about  ten  minutes,  she  told 
me  that  she  felt  too  tired  to  proceed,  and  asked 
if  it  would  be  all  right  to  ask  Miss  Carl  to  post- 
pone it.  I explained  that  as  Miss  Carl  was 
going  to  be  at  the  Palace  for  some  time,  the  post- 
ponement of  one  day’s  sitting  would  not  make 
much  difference  at  that  time,  although  I knew 
that  Miss  Carl  would  naturally  be  disappointed. 
Still,  I had  to  humor  Her  Majesty  as  much  as 
possible,  otherwise  she  might  have  thrown  up 
the  whole  thing.  Miss  Carl  said  that  if  Her 
Majesty  wished  to  go  to  rest,  she  could  be  work- 
ing painting  the  screen  and  the  throne,  and  Her 
Majesty  could  pose  again  later  on  if  she  felt  like 
it.  This  pleased  Her  Majesty,  and  she  said  that 
she  would  try  to  sit  again  after  taking  her  after- 
noon’s rest.  Her  Majesty  ordered  me  to  give 
Miss  Carl  her  lunch  in  my  own  room  at  twelve 
o’clock  each  day,  my  mother,  my  sister  and  my- 
self keeping  her  company.  Dinner  at  the  Palace 
was  usually  taken  about  six  o’clock,  and  it  was 
arranged  that  Miss  Carl  should  take  dinner  with 
the  Young  Empress  and  the  Court  ladies  at  that 
hour,  after  Her  Majesty  had  finished  dining. 
Her  Majesty  also  ordered  that  champagne  or 
any  other  wine  which  Miss  Carl  preferred,  should 
be  served,  as  she  said  she  knew  it  was  the  custom 


238  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


for  all  foreign  ladies  to  take  wine  with  their  meals. 
Where  she  got  hold  of  this  idea,  nobody  knew. 
I was  sure  that  Her  Majesty  had  been  misin- 
formed by  somebody,  but  it  would  have  been  bad 
policy  to  have  tried  to  tell  her  different  at  the 
moment.  She  disliked  very  much  to  be  told  that 
she  was  wrong  in  any  of  these  things,  and  it  could 
only  be  done  by  waiting  and  casually  introducing 
the  subject  at  some  other  time. 

After  Miss  Carl  had  gone  to  rest  during  the 
afternoon,  Her  Majesty  sent  for  me  and  asked 
the  usual  question,  viz.:  What  had  Miss  Carl 
been  saying?  etc.,  etc.  She  seemed  particularly 
anxious  to  know  what  Miss  Carl  thought  of  her, 
and  when  I told  her  that  Miss  Carl  had  said 
that  she  was  very  beautiful  and  quite  young  look- 
ing, she  said:  “Oh!  well,  of  course  Miss  Carl 
would  say  that  to  you.”  However,  on  my  as- 
suring her  that  Miss  Carl  had  given  this  opinion 
without  being  asked  for  it,  she  showed  very 
plainly  that  she  was  not  at  all  displeased  with 
the  compliment. 

Suddenly  Her  Majesty  said:  “I  have  been 
thinking  that  if  Miss  Carl  can  paint  the  screen 
and  the  throne,  surely  she  ought  to  be  able  to 
paint  my  clothes  and  jewels,  without  it  being 
necessary  for  me  to  pose  all  the  time.”  I told 
her  that  would  be  quite  impossible,  as  nobody 
could  hold  the  things  for  Miss  Carl  to  get  the 


THE  EMPRESS’S  PORTRAIT 


239 


proper  effect.  To  my  surprise  she  answered: 
“Well,  that  is  easily  gotten  over.  You  wear 
them  in  my  place.”  I hardly  knew  what  to  say, 
but  thought  I would  get  out  of  the  difficulty  by 
telling  her  that  perhaps  Miss  Carl  would  not 
like  such  an  arrangement.  Her  Majesty,  how- 
ever, could  see  no  possible  objection  on  Miss 
Carl’s  part,  as  she  herself  could  pose  when  the 
time  came  for  painting  her  face.  So  I put  the 
matter  as  nicely  as  possible  to  Miss  Carl,  and  it 
was  finally  arranged  that  I should  dress  in  Her 
Majesty’s  robes  and  jewels  whenever  Her 
Majesty  felt  too  tired  to  do  the  posing  herself. 
In  this  manner  the  portrait  of  the  Empress 
Dowager  was  painted,  and  with  the  exception  of 
just  a few  hours  to  enable  Miss  Carl  to  get  Her 
Majesty’s  facial  expression,  I had  to  sit  for  two 
hours  each  morning,  and  for  another  two  hours 
each  afternoon  until  the  portrait  was  finished. 


CHAPTER  FOURTEEN 


THE  EMPEROR’S  BIRTHDAY 

My  father’s  four  months’  leave  having  expired, 
he  was  received  in  audience  by  their  Majesties 
on  the  first  day  of  the  sixth  moon.  He  was 
much  improved  in  health,  but  his  rheumatism 
was  still  very  troublesome.  This  was  particu- 
larly noticeable  when  climbing  the  steps  to  the 
Audience  Hall,  and  Her  Majesty  ordered  two 
of  the  eunuchs  to  assist  him. 

First  he  thanked  Her  Majesty  for  her  kind- 
ness towards  my  sister  and  myself,  and,  as  was 
the  custom,  took  off  his  hat  and  knelt  down,  bow- 
ing his  head  until  it  struck  the  ground.  This 
ceremony  was  always  gone  through  by  any  offi- 
cial who  had  received  special  favors  from  Their 
Majesties. 

He  then  replaced  his  hat  on  his  head  and 
remained  kneeling  before  the  throne.  Her 
Majesty  then  questioned  him  about  his  life 
in  Paris,  from  time  to  time  complimenting  him 
on  his  work.  Seeing  that  remaining  in  this 
kneeling  position  appeared  to  be  making  him 
tired,  Her  Majesty  ordered  one  of  the  eunuchs 

210 


THE  EMPEROR’S  BIRTHDAY 


241 


to  bring  a cushion  for  him  to  use,  which  was 
another  great  honor,  as  this  cushion  was  only 
used  by  the  President  of  the  Grand  Council. 

Her  Majesty  told  him  that  as  he  was  now: 
getting  to  be  a very  old  man,  she  did  not  intend 
sending  him  away  from  China  again,  as  she 
wanted  to  keep  my  sister  and  myself  at  the 
Court,  which  she  could  not  do  if  she  sent  him  to 
some  foreign  country,  as  he  would  want  to  take 
his  daughters  with  him.  She  said  she  was 
pleased,  that  although  we  had  been  away  from 
China  for  such  a long  time,  we  were  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  Manchu  customs.  My  father 
replied  that  it  had  been  his  care  that  we  should 
be  brought  up  according  to  the  customs  of  our 
own  country. 

Her  Majesty  then  asked  the  Emperor  if  he 
had  anything  to  say,  and  he  replied  by  asking 
my  father  if  he  spoke  French,  and  thought  it 
veiy  strange  on  learning  that  he  did  not.  My 
father  explained  that  he  had  never  had  the  time 
to  study  it,  besides  which  he  considered  himself 
too  old  to  learn  a foreign  language. 

The  Emperor  next  asked  what  was  the  feeling 
in  France  towards  China.  My  father  replied  that 
they  were  very  friendly  at  that  time,  but  that 
immediately  after  the  Boxer  trouble  the  post  of 
Minister  had  been  a very  embarrassing  one.  Her 
Majesty  said  that  it  had  been  an  unfortunate 


242  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


affair,  but  she  was  glad  that  everything  was 
now  settled  satisfactorily.  She  told  my  father 
that  he  was  to  get  well  again  as  quickly  as  pos- 
sible, and  the  audience  came  to  an  end. 

Afterwards  Her  Majesty  said  that  my  father 
was  looking  very  old  since  his  return  from 
France  and  that  he  would  have  to  be  careful 
and  take  things  easy  until  he  got  stronger  again. 
She  was  pleased  that  he  had  shown  appreciation 
of  her  interest  in  my  sister  and  myself. 

Preparations  were  now  commenced  for  cele- 
brating the  birthday  of  His  Majesty,  the  Em- 
peror Kwang  Hsu,  which  was  to  take  place  on 
the  28th  of  that  month.  The  actual  date  of  the 
Emperor’s  birthday  was  the  26th  of  the  sixth 
moon,  but  this  day,  being  the  anniversary  of 
the  death  of  a previous  Emperor  of  China,  we 
were  unable  to  hold  any  festivities,  and  so  it  was 
always  celebrated  on  the  28th  day  instead.  The 
official  celebration  lasted  for  seven  days,  three 
days  before  and  four  days  after  the  actual  date. 
During  that  time  the  whole  of  the  Court  dressed 
in  official  robes,  and  no  business  of  any  kind 
whatever  was  attended  to.  This  being  the 
Emperor’s  32nd  birthday,  and  as  the  full  cele- 
brations only  took  place  every  tenth  year,  i.  e. 
on  his  20th  birthday,  his  30th  birthday,  and 
so  on,  the  festivities  were  not  carried  out  on  a 
very  grand  scale.  However,  it  was  quite  suffi- 


THE  EMPEROR’S  BIRTHDAY 


243 


cient  to  interfere  with  all  business,  and  the  usual 
morning  audiences  did  not  take  place  during 
these  seven  days.  The  Empress  Dowager  her- 
self was  the  only  person  wTho  did  not  dress  espe- 
cially during  these  celebrations,  and  who  did  not 
take  any  active  part  in  the  festivities.  Another 
reason  why  the  celebrations  were  not  carried  out 
on  a very  large  scale  was  the  fact  that  the 
Empress  Dowager,  being  alive,  she  took  prece- 
dence, according  to  the  Manchu  custom,  over  the 
Emperor  himself,  in  fact  she  was  the  actual  ruler 
of  the  country,  the  Emperor  being  second.  The 
Emperor  was  quite  aware  of  this  fact,  and 
when  the  Empress  commanded  that  prepara- 
tions be  commenced  for  the  celebrations,  the 
Emperor  would  always  suggest  that  it  was  not 
at  all  necessary  to  celebrate  the  occasion  unless 
it  happened  to  be  a tenth  year,  and  would 
very  reluctantly  agree  to  the  festivities  taking 
place.  Of  course  this  was  more  out  of  polite- 
ness on  the  part  of  the  Emperor  and  to  conform 
to  the  recognized  etiquette,  but  the  nation  recog- 
nized this  birthday  and  naturally  celebrated  ac- 
cording to  the  usual  custom.  During  this 
period,  therefore,  the  painting  of  the  portrait  was 
postponed. 

When  the  morning  of  the  25th  arrived,  the 
Emperor  dressed  himself  in  his  official  robe — 
yellow  gown,  embroidered  with  gold  dragons  and 


244  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


coat  of  a reddish  black  color.  Of  course,  being 
the  Emperor,  in  place  of  the  usual  button  on  the 
hat  he  wore  a large  pearl.  I might  mention  that 
the  Emperor  was  the  only  person  who  could  wear 
this  particular  pearl  in  place  of  a button.  He 
came  as  usual  to  wish  Her  Majesty  Chi  Hsiang 
and  then  proceeded  to  the  temple  to  worship  be- 
fore the  ancestral  tablets.  After  this  ceremony 
was  over  he  returned  to  the  Empress  Dowager 
and  kowtowed  to  her.  All  the  Chinese  adopt 
this  rule  of  kowtowing  to  their  parents  on 
their  own  birthdays,  as  a sign  of  reverence  and 
respect.  The  Emperor  next  proceeded  to  the 
Audience  Hall,  where  all  the  Ministers  were 
assembled,  and  received  their  salutations  and  con- 
gratulations. This  ceremony  very  often  caused 
amusement,  for  to  see  several  hundred  people  all 
bobbing  their  heads  up  and  down,  especially  when 
they  did  not  all  manage  to  do  it  together,  was  a 
very  funny  sight.  Even  the  Emperor  himself 
had  to  laugh,  it  was  such  an  extraordinary 
spectacle. 

The  musical  instruments  which  were  used  dur- 
ing the  ceremony  deserve  a little  description. 
The  principal  instrument  is  made  of  hard  wood, 
and  has  a flat  bottom  about  three  feet  in  diame- 
ter, with  a dome-shaped  top  raised  about  three 
feet  from  the  ground.  The  inside  is  quite  hol- 
low. A long  pole  made  of  the  same  material 


THE  EMPEROR’S  BIRTHDAY 


245 


is  used  as  a drumstick,  and  an  official,  specially 
appointed,  beats  with  all  his  might  on  the  drum. 
The  noise  can  be  better  imagined  than  described. 
This  is  used  as  a signal  to  announce  when  the 
Emperor  takes  his  seat  upon  the  throne.  In 
addition  to  the  above,  a full  sized  model  of  a 
tiger,  also  made  of  similar  hard  wood,  and  hav- 
ing twenty-four  scales  on  its  back,  is  brought 
into  the  courtyard.  In  this  case  they  did  not 
beat  the  instrument,  but  scraped  along  its  back 
over  the  scales,  which  emitted  a noise  similar  to 
the  letting  off  simultaneously  of  innumerable 
crackers.  This  noise  was  kept  up  during  the 
whole  of  the  ceremony,  and  what  with  the  drum 
and  this  tiger  instrument  it  was  sufficient  to 
deafen  one.  During  the  ceremony,  an  official 
crier  used  to  call  out  the  different  orders,  such  as 
when  to  kneel,  bow,  stand  up,  kowtow,  etc.,  etc., 
but  with  the  noise  it  was  quite  impossible  to  hear 
a single  word  of  what  he  uttered.  Another  in- 
strument was  composed  of  a frame  made  of 
wood,  about  eight  feet  high  by  three  feet  broad. 
Across  this  frame  were  three  wooden  bars,  from 
which  was  suspended  twelve  bells,  made  out  of 
pure  gold.  When  these  were  struck  with  a 
wooden  stick  the  sound  was  not  at  all  unlike  the 
dulcimer,  only,  of  course,  very  much  louder. 
This  was  placed  on  the  right  side  of  the  Audience 
Hall.  On  the  left  side  a similar  instrument  was 


246  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


placed,  with  the  exception  that  the  bells  were 
carved  out  of  white  jade.  The  music  which 
could  be  brought  out  of  the  instrument  was  very 
sweet. 

When  this  ceremony  of  receiving  the  Minis- 
ters was  concluded,  the  Emperor  proceeded  to 
his  private  Palace,  where  the  Young  Empress 
(his  wife),  the  Secondary  wife  and  all  the  Court 
ladies  were  gathered,  and,  after  kowtowing,  all 
of  the  Court  ladies  present,  led  by  the  Young 
Empress,  knelt  before  him  and  presented  him 
with  a Ru  Yee.  This  is  a kind  of  sceptre. 
Some  are  made  out  of  pure  jade,  while  others 
are  made  out  of  wood  inlaid  with  jade.  This 
Ru  Yee  is  a symbol  of  good  luck  and  was  sup- 
posed to  bring  happiness  and  prosperity  to  the 
person  to  whom  it  was  presented.  The  cere- 
mony was  gone  through  to  the  accompaniment 
of  music  played  on  string  instruments,  which 
was  very  sweet. 

Next  the  eunuchs  were  received  by  the  Em- 
peror, and  they  similarly  congratulated  him,  but 
without  the  accompaniment  of  music.  After  the 
eunuchs  came  the  servant  girls,  and  the  whole  of 
the  ceremony  was  over.  The  Emperor  next  pro- 
ceeded to  Her  Majesty’s  Palace,  where  he  knelt 
before  Her  Majesty  and  thanked  her  for  the 
celebration  which  had  been  given  in  his  honor, 
after  which  Her  Majesty,  accompanied  by  the 


THE  EMPEROR’S  BIRTHDAY 


247 


whole  Court,  went  to  the  theatre  to  see  the  play. 

On  arrival  at  the  theatre  we  were  all  presented 
by  Her  Majesty  with  sweetmeats,  this  being  the 
custom  on  these  occasions,  and  after  a little  while 
Her  Majesty  retired  for  her  afternoon  rest. 
Thus  the  celebration  ended. 

Two  days  after  the  celebration  the  seventh 
moon  commenced.  The  seventh  day  of  the  sev- 
enth moon  was  the  occasion  of  another  important 
anniversary. 

The  two  stars,  Niu  Lang  (Capricorn)  and 
Chih  Nu  (Lyra)  are  supposed  to  be  the  patrons 
of  agriculture  and  weaving  and,  according  to 
tradition,  were  at  one  time  man  and  wife.  As  the 
result  of  a quarrel,  however,  they  were  doomed 
to  live  apart,  being  separated  from  each  other 
by  the  “Milky  Way.”  But  on  the  seventh  day 
of  the  seventh  moon  of  each  year  they  are  allowed 
to  see  each  other  and  the  magpies  are  supposed 
to  build  a bridge  to  enable  them  to  meet. 

The  ceremony  is  rather  peculiar.  Several 
basins  full  of  water  were  placed  so  that  the  sun’s 
rays  would  fall  upon  them.  Her  Majesty  then 
took  several  tiny  needles  and  dropped  one  into 
each  basin.  These  floated  on  the  water,  casting 
a shadow  across  the  bottom  of  the  basins.  These 
shadows  took  different  forms,  according  to  the 
position  of  the  needle,  and  if  the  shadow  took 
certain  prescribed  forms,  the  person  throwing 


248  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


in  the  needle  was  supposed  to  be  very  lucky  and 
clever,  while  if  they  represented  certain  other 
forms,  they  were  despised  by  the  gods  as  being 
ignorant.  In  addition,  Her  Majesty  burned  in- 
cense and  offered  up  prayers  to  the  two  gods  re- 
ferred to. 

This  was  always  a sad  moon  for  Her  Majestjr, 
it  being  the  anniversary  of  the  death  of  her  hus- 
band, the  Emperor  Hsien  Feng,  who  died  on  the 
17th  of  that  month.  The  fifteenth  of  the 
seventh  moon  each  year  is  the  day  of  the  fes- 
tival for  the  dead,  and  early  in  the  morning 
the  Court  moved  to  the  Sea  Palace  in  order  to 
sacrifice.  The  Chinese  hold  that  when  a person 
dies,  his  soul  still  remains  on  the  earth,  and  on 
these  anniversaries  they  burn  imitation  money, 
the  belief  being  that  the  soul  of  the  departed  one 
will  benefit  to  the  extent  of  the  amount  of  money 
so  represented.  On  the  anniversary  above 
referred  to  Her  Majesty  sent  for  hundreds  of 
Buddhist  priests  to  pray  for  those  unfortunate 
people  who  had  died  without  leaving  anyone  who 
could  sacrifice  for  them.  On  the  evening  of 
this  day,  Her  Majesty  and  all  her  Court  ladies 
set  out  in  open  boats  on  the  lake,  where  imitation 
lotus  flowers  were  arranged  as  lanterns,  with  a 
candle  placed  in  the  centre,  which  formed  a sort 
of  floating  light,  the  idea  being  to  give  light  to 
the  spirits  of  those  who  had  departed  during  the 


THE  EMPEROR’S  BIRTHDAY 


249 


year,  so  as  to  enable  them  to  come  and  receive 
the  blessings  which  had  been  prepared  for  them. 
Her  Majesty  ordered  us  to  light  the  candles  and 
place  the  flowers  on  the  water  ourselves,  as  she 
said  it  would  be  appreciated  by  the  spirits  of  the 
dead.  Some  of  the  eunuchs  had  told  Her 
Majesty  that  they  had  actually  seen  some  of 
these  spirits,  which  assertion  was  thoroughly 
believed.  Although  she  had  never  seen  them  her- 
self, she  accounted  for  this  by  the  fact  that  she 
was  of  too  high  a rank  and  the  spirits  were  afraid 
of  her,  but  she  ordered  all  the  rest  of  us  to  keep 
a sharp  lookout  and  tell  her  if  we  saw  anything. 
Of  course  we  didn’t  see  anything,  but  many  of 
the  Court  ladies  were  so  frightened  that  they 
closed  their  eyes  for  fear  they  might  see  some- 
thing supernatural. 

Her  Majesty  was  devoted  to  the  late  Emperor 
Hsien  Feng,  and  she  was  very  sad  and  morose 
during  this  period.  We  all  had  to  be  very  care- 
ful indeed  not  to  upset  her  in  any  way,  as  she 
would  find  fault  on  the  slightest  provocation. 
She  hardly  had  a word  to  say  to  any  of  us,  and 
cried  almost  incessantly.  I could  hardly  under- 
stand the  reason  for  such  grief,  seeing  that  the 
Emperor  had  died  so  many  years  previously. 
None  of  the  Court  ladies  were  allowed  to  dress 
in  light-coloured  gowns  during  the  whole  of  the 
seventh  moon.  We  all  dressed  either  in  dark 


250  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


blue  or  pale  blue,  while  Her  Majesty  herself 
dressed  in  black  every  day  without  exception. 
Even  her  handkerchiefs  were  black.  The  the- 
atres which  were  usually  opened  on  the  first 
and  fifteenth  of  each  month,  were  closed  dur- 
ing the  seventh  moon.  There  was  no  music,  and 
everything  was  conducted  in  the  most  solemn 
manner;  in  fact,  the  whole  Court  was  in  deep 
mourning. 

On  the  morning  of  the  seventeenth  day  of  the 
seventh  moon,  Her  Majesty  visited  the  late 
Emperor’s  tablet,  and  knelt  there  crying  for 
quite  a while.  In  order  to  show  respect  for  the 
late  Emperor,  none  of  us  were  allowed  to  eat 
meat  for  three  days.  This  being  my  first  year 
at  the  Palace,  it  appeared  to  me  very  strange, 
after  the  customary  gaiety  and  noise.  Of  course 
I felt  very  sorry  for  Her  Majesty,  as  I could  see 
that  it  was  a genuine  display  of  grief  and  was 
not  in  any  way  put  on.  As  I was  her  favorite 
at  that  time,  she  kept  me  close  to  her  side  during 
this  sad  period.  The  Young  Empress  said  to 
me  one  day:  “Her  Majesty  is  very  much  attached 
to  you,  and  I think  you  had  better  stay  with  her 
for  the  time  being.”  This  I did,  and  I was  so 
miserable  myself  that  when  Her  Majesty  com- 
menced crying  I would  cry  also.  When  she  saw 
that  I was  crying,  Her  Majesty  would  immedi- 
ately stop  and  ask  me  not  to  cry.  She  would  tell 


The  Empress  of  China  dressed  as  the  Goddess  of  Mercy,  with 
Li  Lien  Ying,  first  eunuch,  and  Tsue  Yu  Gay,  second 
eunuch,  as  her  attendants 


THE  EMPEROR’S  BIRTHDAY 


251 


me  that  I was  too  young  to  cry,  and  that  in  any 
case  I did  not  know  what  real  sorrow  was  as  yet. 
During  the  conversations  we  had  at  that  time  she 
would  tell  me  quite  a lot  about  herself.  On  one 
occasion  she  said:  “You  know  I have  had  a very 
hard  life  ever  since  I was  a young  girl.  I was  not 
a bit  happy  when  with  my  parents,  as  I was  not 
the  favorite.  My  sisters  had  everything  they 
wanted,  while  I was,  to  a great  extent,  ignored 
altogether.  When  I first  came  to  the  Court, 
a lot  of  the  people  were  jealous  of  me  because 
I was  considered  to  be  a beautiful  woman  at 
that  time.  I must  say  myself  that  I was  a clever 
one,  for  I fought  my  own  battles,  and  won  them, 
too.  When  I arrived  at  Court  the  late  Emperor 
became  very  much  attached  to  me  and  would 
hardly  glance  at  any  of  the  other  ladies.  For- 
tunately, I was  lucky  in  giving  birth  to  a son,  as 
it  made  me  the  Emperor’s  undisputed  favorite; 
but  after  that  I had  very  bad  luck.  During  the 
last  year  of  his  reign  the  Emperor  was  seized  with 
a sudden  illness.  In  addition  to  this  the  foreign 
soldiers  burnt  down  the  Palace  at  Yuen  Ming 
Yuen,  so  we  fled  to  Jehol.  Of  course  everybody 
knows  what  took  place  at  that  time.  I was  still 
a young  woman,  with  a dying  husband  and  a 
young  son.  The  East  Empress  Dowager’s 
nephew  was  a bad  man,  who  coveted  the  throne, 
which  he  had  no  right  to  in  any  event,  as  he  was 


252  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


not  of  royal  blood.  I would  not  wish  anyone 
to  experience  what  I myself  passed  through  at 
that  time.  When  the  Emperor  was  in  a dying 
condition,  being  practically  unconscious  of  what 
was  taking  place  around  him,  I took  my  son  to 
his  bedside  and  asked  him  what  was  going  to  be 
done  about  his  successor  to  the  throne.  He  made 
no  reply  to  this,  but,  as  has  always  been  the  case 
in  emergencies,  I was  equal  to  the  occasion,  and 
I said  to  him:  ‘Here  is  your  son,’  on  hearing 
which  he  immediately  opened  his  eyes  and  said: 
‘Of  course  he  will  succeed  to  the  throne.’  I nat- 
urally felt  relieved  when  this  was  settled  once 
and  for  all.  These  words  were  practically  the 
last  he  spoke,  for  he  died  immediately  afterwards. 
Although  it  is  now  so  many  years  ago,  I can  see 
him  now  in  that  dying  condition,  just  as  though 
it  all  happened  only  yesterday. 

“I  thought  that  I could  be  happy  with  my  son 
as  the  Emperor  Tung  Chi,  but  unfortunately  he 
died  before  he  was  twenty  years  of  age.  Since 
that  time  I have  been  a changed  woman,  as  all 
happiness  was  over  as  far  as  I was  concerned 
when  he  died.  I had  also  quite  a lot  of  trouble 
with  the  East  Empress  Dowager  and  found  it 
very  difficult  to  keep  on  good  terms  with  her. 
However,  she  died  five  years  after  the  death  of 
my  son.  In  addition  to  all  this,  when  the  Empe- 
ror Kwang  Hsu  was  brought  to  me  as  a baby 


THE  EMPEROR’S  BIRTHDAY 


253 


three  years  old,  he  was  a very  sickly  child,  and 
could  hardly  walk,  he  was  so  thin  and  weak.  His 
parents  seemed  to  be  afraid  of  giving  him  any- 
thing to  eat.  You  know  his  father  was  Prince 
Chung,  and  his  mother  was  my  sister,  so  of  course 
he  was  almost  the  same  as  my  own  son,  in  fact  I 
adopted  him  as  such.  Even  now,  after  all  my 
trouble  on  his  account,  he  is  not  in  perfect  health. 
As  you  know,  I have  had  plenty  of  other  troubles 
beside  these,  but  it  is  useless  to  mention  them 
now.  I am  disappointed  with  everything,  as 
nothing  has  turned  out  as  I had  expected.” 
With  this  remark  Her  Majesty  commenced  cry- 
ing afresh.  Continuing,  she  said:  “People  seem 
to  think  that  just  because  I am  the  Empress 
Dowager  that  I am  bound  to  be  happy,  but  what 
I have  just  told  you  is  not  all.  I have  gone 
through  much  more  than  that.  If  ever  anything 
went  wrong,  I was  always  the  one  who  was 
blamed.  The  censors  even  dare  to  impeach  me 
once  in  a while.  However,  I am  philosopher 
enough  to  take  things  for  what  they  are  worth, 
otherwise  I would  have  been  in  my  own  grave 
long,  long  ago.  Just  imagine  how  small  minded 
these  people  are.  Amongst  other  things  they  ob- 
jected to  my  transferring  my  Court  to  the  Sum- 
mer Palace  during  the  hot  weather,  although  I 
could  do  no  harm  by  being  there.  Even  in  the 
short  time  you  have  spent  at  Court,  you  can  see 


254>  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


that  I am  unable  to  decide  anything  alone,  while 
whenever  they  want  anything  they  consult  with 
each  other  and  then  present  their  petition  to  me, 
which,  unless  it  is  something  of  a very  serious 
nature,  I never  think  of  refusing.” 

After  the  time  set  apart  for  mourning  had 
expired,  we  all  went  back  to  the  Summer  Palace, 
where  Miss  Carl  re-commenced  her  work  on  Her 
[Majesty’s  portrait.  Her  Majesty  apparently 
soon  got  tired  of  this  portrait  painting,  for  one 
day  she  asked  me  when  I thought  it  would  be 
finished.  She  was  afraid  that  it  would  not  be 
finished  by  the  time  the  cold  weather  came  on, 
when  we  always  removed  the  Court  to  the  For- 
bidden City,  and  she  said  it  would  be  a lot  of 
trouble  and  inconvenience  to  have  to  continue 
the  portrait  there.  I told  Pier  Majesty  that  it 
could  easily  be  arranged  and  that  she  need  not 
worry  herself. 

After  I had  been  posing  in  Her  Majesty’s 
jrtace  for  several  days  Her  [Majesty  asked  me 
whether  [Miss  Carl  had  said  anything  about  it, 
and  if  she  did,  I was  to  inform  her  that  it  was  a 
command  from  Her  Majesty,  and  that  I dare 
not  make  any  further  suggestions  in  that  respect. 
So  we  had  no  further  trouble  with  Miss  Carl 
after  that.  I had,  however,  quite  a lot  of  trouble 
with  the  eunuchs,  who,  in  spite  of  Her  [Majesty’s 
instructions,  were  anything  but  polite  to  [Miss 


THE  EMPEROR’S  BIRTHDAY 


255 


Carl.  Of  course  Miss  Carl  herself  did  not  know 
this.  I tried  to  make  them  behave  better  by 
threatening  to  tell  Her  Majesty  about  them, 
which  had  a good  effect  for  a while,  but  they  were 
soon  as  bad  as  ever. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  eighth  moon,  Her 
Majesty  always  attended  to  the  transplanting 
of  her  chrysanthemums,  which  was  one  of  her 
favorite  flowers,  so  each  day  she  would  take  us 
with  her  to  the  west  side  of  the  lake  and,  assisted 
by  us,  would  cut  the  tops  of  the  young  plants 
and  set  them  in  flower  pots.  I was  very  much 
surprised  at  this,  as  there  were  no  roots,  only 
the  stems  of  the  flowers,  but  Her  Majesty 
assured  me  that  they  would  soon  grow  into 
very  pretty  plants.  Every  day  we  went  over 
to  water  these  flowers  until  they  began  to  bud. 
In  case  it  rained  heavily,  Her  Majesty  would 
order  some  of  the  eunuchs  to  go  over  and  cover 
up  these  chrysanthemum  plants  with  mats,  so 
that  they  would  not  be  broken.  It  was  char- 
acteristic of  Her  Majesty  that,  no  matter  what 
other  business  she  had  to  attend  to,  her  flowers 
had  her  first  consideration  and  she  would,  if  nec- 
essary, even  go  without  her  usual  rest  in  order 
to  superintend  them  personally.  She  also  spent 
quite  a time  in  looking  after  her  orchard,  where 
she  had  planted  apple  trees,  pear  trees,  etc. 
Another  thing  which  I began  to  notice  was  that 


256  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


when  the  spring  and  summer  days  had  passed, 
she  got  quite  irritable  and  sad,  while  in  the  win- 
ter she  was  simply  unbearable.  She  loathed 
cold  weather. 

One  day,  during  the  eighth  moon,  Her 
Majesty  was  taken  slightly  ill,  and  complained 
of  suffering  from  severe  headaches.  This  was 
the  only  time  I ever  saw  Her  Majesty  actually 
sick.  She,  however,  got  up  as  usual  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  held  audience,  but  was  unable  to  take 
her  luncheon,  and  very  soon  had  to  retire  to  her 
bed.  Several  doctors  were  summoned,  each  of 
whom  took  her  pulse.  This  was  quite  a cere- 
mony in  itself.  The  doctors  knelt  at  the  bedside, 
and  Her  Majesty  stretched  forth  her  arm,  rest- 
ing her  hand  upon  a small  pillow  which  was 
provided  for  that  purpose.  After  this  each 
doctor  wrote  out  his  prescription,  all  of  which 
were  different  from  each  other.  We  handed  them 
to  Her  Majesty,  who  chose  the  one  which  she 
thought  was  the  nicest  to  take,  and  two  attend- 
ants and  the  doctor  himself  had  to  take  a dose 
in  her  presence  before  she  would  touch  it.  Then 
she  would  take  it  all  right. 

During  this  time  it  rained  a great  deal  and 
was  very  hot.  The  climate  at  this  time  of  the 
year  is  very  damp,  which  causes  the  flies  to  make 
their  appearance  in  millions.  If  there  was  one 
thing  more  than  another  that  Her  Majesty 


THE  EMPEROR’S  BIRTHDAY 


257 


detested  it  was  these  flies.  During  the  actual 
summer  they  were  not  so  troublesome  as  at  this 
particular  time.  Of  course  every  precaution 
was  taken  to  keep  them  away,  a eunuch  being 
posted  at  each  door,  provided  with  sort  of  a switch 
made  of  horse  hair  fastened  at  the  end  of  a bam- 
boo pole.  We  were  never  troubled  by  mos- 
quitoes, however;  in  fact  I never  saw  a mosquito 
curtain  in  the  Palace  during  the  whole  of  my 
stay  there.  These  flies  were  an  abomination, 
and  in  spite  of  all  that  could  be  done  a few 
would  find  their  way  into  the  rooms.  When- 
ever they  alighted  on  Her  Majesty  she  would 
scream,  while  if  by  any  chance  one  were  to  alight 
on  her  food  she  would  order  the  whole  lot  to  be 
thrown  away.  This  would  spoil  her  appetite  for 
the  whole  day  and  put  her  into  a terrible  temper 
as  well.  Whenever  she  saw  one  anywhere  near 
her,  she  would  order  whoever  happened  to  be 
present  to  go  and  catch  it.  I myself  often 
received  this  order,  but  I detested  them  almost 
as  much  as  Her  Majesty  did,  they  were  so  dirty, 
and  stuck  to  one’s  hands  whenever  they  touched 
them. 

After  her  illness  Her  Majesty  was  indisposed 
more  or  less  for  quite  a long  time,  and  doctors 
were  constantly  in  attendance.  She  took  so 
many  different  kinds  of  medicine  that  instead  of 
getting  better  she  got  worse  and  eventually  con- 


258  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


tracted  a fever.  Her  Majesty  was  very  much 
afraid  of  fevers  of  any  kind  and  we  had  to  stay 
with  her  all  night  and  all  day  and  had  to  take 
our  meals  whenever  we  could  get  away  from  her 
bedside  for  a few  minutes.  Another  peculiarity 
was  Her  Majesty’s  aversion  for  any  kind  of  per- 
fume near  her  when  she  was  sick,  while  when 
she  was  feeling  well  she  was  simply  smothered 
in  it.  The  same  applied  to  fresh  flowers ; in  spite 
of  her  love  for  them  under  ordinary  conditions, 
when  she  was  sick  she  could  not  bear  them  any- 
where near.  Her  nerves  became  absolutely 
unstrung,  as  she  was  unable  to  sleep  during  the 
day,  and  consequently  the  time  passed  very 
slowly  to  her.  In  order  to  make  the  time  pass 
a little  less  tediously,  she  gave  instructions  for 
one  of  the  better  educated  eunuchs  to  read  to  her 
during  the  daytime.  This  reading  generally 
consisted  of  ancient  Chinese  history,  poetry  and 
all  kinds  of  Chinese  lore,  and  while  the  eunuch 
was  reading  to  her  we  had  to  stand  by  her  bed- 
side, one  of  us  being  told  off  to  massage  her 
legs,  which  seemed  to  soothe  her  somewhat.  This 
same  program  was  gone  through  every  day  until 
she  was  completely  herself  again — some  ten  days 
later. 

One  day  Her  Majesty  asked  me:  “What  kind 
of  medicine  does  a foreign  doctor  usually  give 
in  case  of  a fever?  I have  heard  that  they  make 


THE  EMPEROR’S  BIRTHDAY 


259 


you  take  all  kinds  of  pills.  This  must  be  very 
dangerous,  as  you  never  know  what  they  are 
made  of.  Here  in  China  all  medicines  are  made 
from  roots,  and  I can  always  find  out  whether 
I am  receiving  the  right  medicine,  as  I have  a 
book  which  explains  what  each  different  medi- 
cine is  for.  Another  thing  I have  heard  is  that 
foreign  doctors  generally  operate  on  you  with  a 
knife,  while  we  cure  the  same  sickness  by  means 
of  our  medicine.  Li  Lien  Ying  told  me  that 
one  of  our  little  eunuchs  had  a boil  on  his  wrist 
and  someone  advised  him  to  go  to  the  hospital. 
Of  course  they  didn’t  know  what  they  would  do, 
and  the  foreign  doctor  there  opened  the  boil 
with  a knife,  which  frightened  the  child  very 
much.  I was  very  much  surprised  when  I heard 
he  was  all  right  again  in  a couple  of  days.”  Con- 
tinuing, Her  Majesty  said:  “A  year  ago  one  of 
the  foreign  ladies  came  to  the  Palace,  and  hear- 
ing me  cough  a lot,  gave  me  some  black  pills 
and  told  me  to  swallow  them.  I did  not  like  to 
offend  her,  so  I took  the  pills  and  told  her  I 
would  take  them  by  and  bye.  However,  I was 
afraid  to  take  them  and  threw  them  away.”  Of 
course  I answered  that  I didn’t  know  much  about 
medicines,  to  which  she  replied  that  she  had 
seen  me  take  foreign  medicines  whenever  I was 
not  feeling  well.  She  then  said:  “Of  course  I 
know  there  are  people  in  Peking  who  do  take 


260  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


the  medicines  given  them  by  foreign  doctors  and 
even  some  of  my  own  relatives  patronize  these 
foreigners  also.  They  try  not  to  let  me  know, 
but  I do  know  for  all  that.  In  any  case,  if  they 
choose  to  kill  themselves  by  taking  these  things, 
it  is  none  of  my  business ; that  is  the  reason  why, 
when  they  are  sick,  I never  send  my  own  doctors 
to  attend  them.” 

When  Her  Majesty  had  completely  recovered 
from  her  illness  she  used  to  go  out  on  the  lake 
a great  deal,  sometimes  in  an  open  boat  and  at 
other  times  in  a steam  launch.  She  always 
appeared  to  enjoy  this  kind  of  thing.  For  some 
reason  or  other  she  always  insisted  on  taking  the 
west  side  of  the  lake,  which  was  very  shallow, 
and  invariably  the  launch  would  get  stuck  fast 
in  the  mud,  which  seemed  to  afford  Her  Majesty 
great  enjoyment;  she  simply  loved  to  feel  the 
launch  strike  the  bottom.  The  open  boats  would 
then  come  alongside  and  we  would  have  to 
get  out  of  the  launch  and  enter  the  boats  and 
proceed  to  the  top  of  the  nearest  hill  to  watch 
the  efforts  of  the  eunuchs  trying  to  refloat  the 
launch.  It  was  a characteristic  of  Her  Majesty 
to  experience  a keen  sense  of  enjoyment  at  the 
troubles  of  other  people.  The  eunuchs  knew 
this  quite  well,  and  whenever  opportunity 
offered,  they  would  do  something  which  they 
thought  would  amuse  Her  Majesty.  So  long 


THE  EMPEROR’S  BIRTHDAY 


261 


as  it  was  nothing  of  a serious  nature  Her 
Majesty  would  always  overlook  it,  but  in  case 
it  proved  serious  or  was  carelessness,  she  would 
always  order  them  to  be  severely  punished. 
Thus  it  was  very  hard  to  tell  just  what  to  do 
in  order  to  please  her. 

Another  of  Her  Majesty’s  peculiarities  was 
inquisitiveness.  For  example:  As  I have  stated 
before,  it  was  the  custom  for  Her  Majesty  to 
have  sweetmeats  brought  to  her  before  every 
meal,  and  after  she  had  finished  with  them,  the 
remainder  were  distributed  among  the  Court 
ladies.  Whenever  it  happened  that  we  were 
very  busy,  we  did  not  bother  with  the  sweetmeats 
at  all,  which  Her  Majesty  very  soon  found  out. 
One  day,  after  she  had  finished  dining,  she  came 
and  looked  through  the  window  to  see  what  we 
were  doing,  and  saw  some  of  the  eunuchs  eating 
the  sweetmeats  which  she  had  given  to  us.  She 
did  not  say  anything,  but  simply  ordered  that 
the  sweetmeats  should  be  brought  back  again, 
making  us  believe  that  she  wanted  some  more 
herself.  I knew  that  there  was  something 
wrong,  as  she  never  ordered  them  back  before. 
When  she  saw  what  was  left  of  them,  she  asked 
who  had  been  eating  so  many,  as  they  were  nearly 
all  finished,  but  she  got  no  reply — we  were  all 
too  scared.  However,  after  thinking  it  over,  I 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  would  be  best  to 


262  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


tell  her  the  truth,  for  I was  quite  certain  that 
she  knew  anyhow.  So  I told  her  that  we  had  all 
been  very  busy  and  had  forgotten  all  about  the 
sweetmeats,  and  that  the  eunuchs  had  come  and 
taken  them  themselves,  and  I added  that  this 
was  not  the  first  time  they  had  done  so.  I was 
rather  glad  that  she  had  given  me  this  oppor- 
tunity to  report  the  eunuchs,  for  Her  Majesty 
replied  that  if  she  intended  the  eunuchs  to  have 
sweetmeats,  she  herself  could  give  them  some, 
hut  thought  it  a lack  of  appreciation  on  our  part 
not  eating  them  ourselves  after  she  had  been  so 
kind  as  to  provide  them  for  us.  She  turned  to 
me,  and  said:  “I  am  glad  that  you  have  told  the 
truth,  as  I saw  myself  what  was  happening.” 
She  gave  orders  that  the  offending  eunuchs 
should  each  have  three  months’  wages  deducted 
as  a punishment,  but  of  course  I knew  very  well 
they  didn’t  mind  that,  as  they  were  making  many 
times  the  amount  of  their  salary  in  other  ways. 
On  my  return  to  the  sitting  room,  one  of  the 
Court  ladies  said:  “You  should  not  have  told 
Her  Majesty  about  the  eunuchs,  they  are  sure 
to  revenge  themselves  in  some  way.”  I asked 
how  they  could  possibly  injure  me  in  any  way, 
as  they  were  only  servants,  but  she  told  me  that 
they  woidd  find  some  underhand  way  in  which 
to  get  even  with  me,  this  being  their  general  cus- 
tom. Of  course  I knew  the  eunuchs  were  a bad 


THE  EMPEROR’S  BIRTHDAY 


263 


lot,  but  could  not  see  what  cause  they  had  to  be 
against  me  in  any  way.  I knew  they  dare  not 
say  anything  against  me  to  Her  Majesty,  so  I 
forgot  all  about  the  matter.  I found  out  after- 
wards that  one  of  the  tricks  they  used  to  play  on 
any  of  the  Court  ladies  who  offended  them  was 
to  try  and  prejudice  Her  Majesty  against  us. 
For  instance,  if  Her  Majesty  told  one  of  the 
eunuchs  that  a certain  thing  should  be  done, 
instead  of  telling  me  what  Her  Ma j esty  wanted, 
the  eunuch  would  go  off  to  one  of  the  other  ladies 
and  tell  her.  In  this  way  Her  Majesty  would 
get  the  impression  that  I was  too  lazy  to  wait 
upon  her  myself,  and  of  course  the  other  lady 
would  get  all  the  credit.  Although  Her  Majesty 
was  very  kind  to  me,  also  the  Young  Empress, 
it  was  very  hard  to  get  along  with  eunuchs,  and 
it  was  not  good  policy  to  offend  them  in  any  way. 
They  regarded  themselves  as  being  exclusively 
the  servants  of  Her  Majesty,  the  Empress  Dow- 
ager, and  refused  to  take  instructions  from  any- 
body else,  consequently  they  were  often  very 
rude  to  the  other  ladies  of  the  Court,  not  even 
excepting  the  Young  Empress. 

Everything  proceeded  as  usual  until  the  eighth 
moon,  when  the  Emperor  was  to  sacrifice  at  the 
“Temple  of  the  Sun.”  On  this  occasion  the 
Emperor  wore  a red  robe. 

About  this  time  Mrs.  Conger  asked  for  a pri- 


264  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


vate  audience,  as  she  wanted  to  see  Her  Majesty 
and  at  the  same  time  see  how  the  portrait  was 
progressing.  Her  Majesty  replied  that  she 
would  receive  her  and  gave  orders  accordingly. 
At  this  private  audience  Mrs.  Conger  brought 
into  the  Court  two  of  her  relatives  to  be  pre- 
sented to  Her  Majesty,  besides  Miss  Campbell 
and  a missionary  lady.  As  it  was  a private  audi- 
ence, the  guests  were  conducted  to  Her  Majesty’s 
private  Palace.  They  were  received  in  the  hall 
which  was  being  used  as  studio  for  this  lady 
artist,  although  Her  Majesty  was  out  of  patience 
with  the  portrait  painting,  and  talked  to  us  a 
great  deal  about  it,  yet  when  she  saw  Mrs. 
Conger  and  the  others  she  was  extremely  polite 
and  told  them  that  the  portrait  was  going  to  be 
a masterpiece.  She  was  in  an  unusually  good 
humor  that  day  and  told  me  to  give  orders  to 
the  eunuchs  to  open  all  the  buildings  and  show 
them  to  her  guests.  Her  Majesty  led  the  way 
from  one  room  to  another  and  showed  them  her 
curios  in  the  different  rooms,  until  she  came  to 
rest  in  one  of  the  bedrooms,  when  she  ordered 
chairs  to  be  brought  in  for  the  guests.  There 
were  many  chairs  in  this  room,  but  they  were 
really  small  thrones  of  Her  Majesty’s,  although 
they  looked  like  any  ordinary  chairs.  The  cus- 
tom is  that  no  matter  what  kind  of  a chair 
it  may  be,  as  soon  as  she  uses  it,  it  is  at 


THE  EMPEROR’S  BIRTHDAY 


265 


once  called  her  throne  and  no  one  is  allowed  to  sit 
on  it  thereafter  unless  the  order  is  given  by 
her. 

During  the  time  the  eunuchs  were  bringing  in 
the  chairs  kept  purposely  for  foreigners  to  use, 
one  of  the  ladies  of  the  party  made  a mistake 
and  sat  upon  one  of  Her  Majesty’s  thrones.  I 
noticed  her  at  once,  and  before  I had  a chance 
to  warn  her,  Her  Majesty  made  a sign  of  annoy- 
ance to  me.  I went  to  this  lady  at  once  and  told 
her  I wanted  to  show  her  something  and  nat- 
urally she  was  obliged  to  get  up.  The  trouble 
was  this,  although  Her  Majesty  felt  that  no  one 
had  the  right  to  sit  upon  her  throne,  she  expected 
me  to  get  this  lady  off  the  chair  and  at  the  same 
time  not  to  tell  her  the  reason  why.  While  I 
was  busy  interpreting  for  her,  she  said  in  an 
undertone:  “There  she  is  again,  sitting  on  my 
bed.  We  had  better  leave  this  room.”  After 
this  the  ladies  were  conducted  to  the  refreshment 
room,  and  when  they  had  partaken  of  lunch, 
bade  Her  Majesty  good-bye,  leaving  Miss  Carl 
with  us.  As  usual  we  reported  to  her  that  we 
had  seen  the  guests  safely  off.  She  said  to  me: 
“That  was  a funny  lady:  first  she  sat  upon  my 
throne,  and  then  upon  my  bed.  Perhaps  she 
does  not  know  what  a throne  is  when  she  sees 
one,  and  yet  foreigners  laugh  at  us.  I am  sure 
that  our  manners  are  far  superior  to  theirs. 


266  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


Another  thing — did  you  notice  that  Mrs.  Conger 
handed  a parcel  to  Miss  Carl  out  in  the  court- 
yard when  she  came  in?”  I replied  that  I had 
noticed  her  passing  something  like  a parcel,  but 
could  not  tell  what  the  parcel  contained.  She 
thereupon  told  me  to  go  and  ask  Miss  Carl  what 
it  was.  At  that  time  I had  received  so  many 
peculiar  orders  from  Her  Majesty  that  I was 
beginning  to  get  accustomed  to  them  and  used 
my  own  discretion  in  carrying  out  her  instruc- 
tions. Therefore  I did  not  ask  Miss  Carl,  but 
set  about  finding  out  for  myself.  However, 
when  I began  to  look  around  for  the  parcel,  it 
had  mysteriously  disappeared  and  I could  not 
find  the  thing  anywhere.  This  naturally  wor- 
ried me,  knowing  as  I did  that  Her  Majesty 
liked  her  instructions  carried  out  quickly.  While 
I was  searching,  one  of  the  eunuchs  came  in  and 
told  me  that  Her  Majesty  wanted  to  see  me, 
and  of  course  I had  to  go  to  her.  Before  she 
could  say  anything  to  me,  I informed  Her 
Majesty  that  I had  not  been  able  to  ask  Miss 
Carl  about  the  parcel  as  she  was  asleep,  but 
would  do  so  immediately  she  got  up.  Her 
Majesty  said:  “I  don’t  want  Miss  Carl  to  think 
I have  told  you  to  ask  what  the  parcel  contains, 
otherwise  she  might  think  I am  suspicious  of 
what  is  going  on,  so  you  must  manage  to  get  the 
information  somehow  without  mentioning  the 


THE  EMPEROR’S  BIRTHDAY 


267 


matter;  you  are  clever  enough  to  do  that  much.” 
Shortly  afterwards,  while  I was  walking  along 
with  Miss  Carl  to  Her  Majesty’s  Palace,  to 
proceed  with  the  portrait,  I noticed  that  she 
was  carrying  the  parcel  in  question,  which  wras 
a great  relief  to  me,  I can  assure  you.  On 
arrival  at  the  Palace,  Miss  Carl  said  to  me: 
“You  need  not  trouble  to  pose  at  present,  as 
it  is  rather  dark,  and  I can  be  painting  the 
throne;  you  can  look  through  this  magazine, 
if  you  like,  to  pass  the  time  away.”  So  I 
opened  up  the  parcel,  which  proved  to  contain 
nothing  more  than  an  ordinary  American 
monthly  magazine.  After  glancing  through  the 
book,  I made  an  excuse  to  hurry  away  and 
inform  Her  Majesty.  However,  she  had 
already  gone  out  for  her  usual  trip  on  the  lake, 
so  I took  my  chair  and  followed.  When  I 
reached  the  lake,  Her  Majesty,  who  had  seen 
me,  sent  a small  boat  and  I was  rowed  out  to 
the  launch.  Before  I could  get  a chance  to 
speak,  Her  Majesty  said  with  a smile:  “I  know 
all  about  it,  it  was  a book  and  Miss  Carl  handed 
it  to  you  to  read.”  I was  very  much  disap- 
pointed that  I had  had  my  journey  for  nothing. 
I knew  that  the  eunuchs  would  report  it  to  Her 
Majesty  at  the  first  opportunity,  but  I hardly 
expected  they  wTould  have  done  so  already.  Her 
Majesty  was  now  quite  satisfied,  and  simply 


268  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


asked  whether  Miss  Carl  suspected  that  she  had 
enquired  about  the  matter. 

As  I was  about  to  return  to  Miss  Carl,  Her 
Majesty  called  me  and  said:  “There  is  one  thing 
I want  to  tell  you  and  that  is  whenever  any  for- 
eign ladies  are  visiting  the  Palace,  always  keep 
close  to  the  Emperor  so  that  in  the  event  of  their 
speaking  to  him  you  can  interpret.”  I answered 
that  so  far  whenever  any  foreigners  were  present 
I was  present  also  and  did  not  think  that  any- 
body had  held  any  conversation  with  the  Em- 
peror whatsoever.  She  explained  that  her  rea- 
son for  mentioning  this  was  that  she  wanted  me 
to  be  just  as  courteous  to  the  Emperor  as  I was 
to  herself,  and  I was  to  place  myself  entirely  at 
his  disposal  whenever  visitors  were  present.  Of 
course  I knew  very  well  that  this  was  not  the 
true  reason  at  all  but  that  she  wanted  to  take 
every  precaution  to  preclude  the  possibility  of 
foreigners  influencing  the  Emperor  in  matters 
of  reform,  etc. 


CHAPTER  FIFTEEN 


THE  MID-AUTUMN  FESTIVAL 

On  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  eighth  moon  came 
the  celebration  of  the  Mid- Autumn  Festival, 
sometimes  called  the  Moon  Festival. 

This  name  is  derived  from  the  belief  which  the 
Chinese  hold  that  the  moon  is  not  permanently 
round  when  full,  but  that  on  this  particular  day 
it  is  a perfect  circle.  The  ceremony  which  is 
gone  through  is  conducted  entirely  by  the  Court 
ladies  and  consists  of  worshiping  the  moon  as 
soon  as  it  appears  in  the  sky.  In  other  respects 
the  celebrations  are  exactly  the  same  as  in  the 
Dragon  Boat  Festival,  presents  were  exchanged 
between  Her  Majesty  and  the  Court  officials. 
The  festival  concluded  with  a theatrical  per- 
formance which  describes  a scene  in  the  moon. 
The  belief  is  that  a beautiful  maiden  lives  in  the 
moon,  her  only  companion  being  a white  rabbit, 
called  a Jade  Rabbit.  According  to  the  play 
this  rabbit  escapes  from  the  moon  to  the  Earth 
and  becomes  a young  and  beautiful  girl.  A 
golden  rooster  which  lives  in  the  sun,  becoming 
aware  of  the  rabbit’s  descent  to  the  earth,  himself 

269 


270  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


descends  from  the  sun  and  changes  into  a hand- 
some prince.  Of  course  they  very  naturally 
meet  and  immediately  fall  in  love.  Now,  on 
the  earth  lived  another  rabbit — a red  one,  who, 
on  finding  out  what  was  going  on,  changed  him- 
self into  a prince  also  and  set  about  making  love 
to  the  beautiful  maiden  with  the  object  of  cut- 
ting out  the  rooster.  However,  he  was  seriously 
handicapped  inasmuch  as  he  was  unable  to  change 
the  color  of  his  face,  which  remained  red,  there- 
fore his  love  making  met  with  no  success  and  the 
rooster  prince  had  it  all  his  own  way.  At  this 
point,  the  beautiful  maiden  in  the  moon,  on  dis- 
covering her  loss,  sent  the  soldiers  of  Heaven  to 
re-capture  her  rabbit,  with  the  result  that  she 
was  taken  back  to  the  moon  and  the  rooster  be- 
ing left  alone,  had  no  alternative  but  to  reluc- 
tantly return  to  his  home  in  the  sun. 

During  this  performance  the  head  eunuch 
brought  a young  man  into  the  courtyard,  who 
kowtowed  to  Her  Majesty.  This  was  such  an 
unusual  occurrence  that  everybody  noticed  it. 
I could  see  that  he  was  a stranger  and  did  not 
belong  to  the  Court  and  I wondered  Avho  he 
could  be.  At  the  other  end  of  the  veranda  I 
saw  two  or  three  of  the  Court  ladies  whispering 
together  and  smiling.  They  finally  came  over  to 
me  and  asked  if  I knew  who  he  was.  I told 
them  that  he  was  a stranger  to  me  and  they  ought 


THE  MID-AUTUMN  FESTIVAL 


271 


to  know  better  than  I did  as  they  had  been  at  the 
Court  much  longer.  Anyhow  I gave  it  as  my 
opinion  that  he  was  decidedly  ugly.  That  same 
evening  Her  Majesty  asked  me  whether  I had 
noticed  this  young  man,  and  told  me  that  he  was 
the  son  of  a very  high  Manchu  official;  that  his 
father  was  dead  and  that  he  had  succeeded  to 
the  title  and  to  a large  amount  of  money.  I was 
surprised  that  Her  Majesty  should  give  such  a 
lengthy  explanation  about  this  young  man,  but 
I told  her  that  I did  not  think  him  very  hand- 
some. Her  Majesty  was  talking  in  a very  seri- 
ous manner  but  I did  not  think  anything  of  the 
occurrence  at  the  time  but  a few  days  later 
while  I was  posing  for  the  portrait  I heard  Her 
Majesty  whispering  to  my  mother  at  the  other 
end  of  the  room.  I saw  that  Her  Majesty  was 
holding  a photograph  in  her  hands  which  she 
showed  to  my  mother,  at  the  same  time  asking 
whether  my  mother  considered  him  good  looking. 
My  mother  answered  “not  very.”  On  Her 
Majesty  replying  that  beauty  was  not  every- 
thing I began  to  suspect  that  there  was  something 
going  on  which  directly  concerned  me.  I be- 
gan to  think  of  some  excuse  in  order  to  get  out 
of  what  I could  plainly  see  was  a proposed  mar- 
riage between  myself  and  this  gentleman.  I 
knew  that  if  Her  Majesty  had  made  up  her 
mind  that  I was  to  marry  him  I could  not  help 


272  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


myself,  but,  at  the  same  time,  I made  up 
my  own  mind  that  rather  than  marry  anyone 
whom  I did  not  like,  especially  one  I had 
never  seen  before,  I would  leave  the  Court  alto- 
gether. When  Her  Majesty  retired  for  her 
usual  afternoon  rest  she  told  me  she  wanted  to 
see  me  for  a moment.  After  beating  about  the 
bush  for  some  time,  she  asked  me  whether  I would 
like  to  stay  with  her  always  or  whether  I would 
like  to  go  away  again  to  some  foreign  country. 
I at  once  answered  that  I was  quite  satisfied  to 
stay  with  her  as  long  as  she  cared  to  have  me  but 
that  when  she  was  tired  of  me  she  could  then 
send  me  away.  Her  Majesty  informed  me  that 
it  had  been  her  intention  to  marry  me  to  this 
young  gentleman  and  asked  my  opinion.  I told 
her  that  I did  not  want  to  get  married  at  all, 
especially  seeing  that  my  father  was  sick  at  this 
time,  and  leaving  home  to  go  to  live  apart  from 
my  family  would  break  his  heart  and  perhaps 
be  the  cause  of  his  premature  death.  Her  Maj- 
esty said  that  was  no  excuse  as  I should  not  have 
to  go  out  of  China  but  would  be  able  to  see  my 
father  and  family  any  time  I wished.  I told 
Her  Majesty  that  I would  much  rather  stay 
with  her  altogether  and  that  I did  not  want 
to  marry  anybody.  Her  Majesty  then  said: 
“I  won’t  listen  to  any  excuse.  I have  already 
explained  everything  to  your  mother,  but  much 


THE  MID-AUTUMN  FESTIVAL 


m 


to  my  surprise  she  said  it  would  be  better  to 
mention  it  to  you  first,  on  account  of  your  having 
been  brought  up  differently  from  the  rest  of  the 
Court  ladies.  Had  it  not  been  for  this  fact  I 
would  simply  have  arranged  everything  with 
your  mother  and  the  matter  would  have  been 
settled  so  far  as  you  were  concerned.”  I could 
not  say  anything  in  answer  to  this,  so  commenced 
to  cry.  I told  Her  Majesty  that  I was  not  like 
the  rest  of  the  Court  ladies  who  pretended  they 
did  not  want  to  marry,  when  all  the  time  they 
were  simply  looking  forward  to  getting  married, 
if  only  for  the  change  from  the  monotony  of 
Court  life.  I promised  that  I would  stay  with 
her  forever,  and  that  I had  no  desire  to  go  away 
from  China  again.  I explained  that  I should 
not  have  gone  away  at  all  had  it  not  been  that 
my  father  was  transferred  to  Paris.  Her  Maj- 
esty said:  “Oh,  well,  I am  very  glad  that  you 
did  go  away  as  you  are  more  useful  to  me  than 
you  would  have  been  had  you  stayed  in  China 
all  your  life.”  After  a lot  more  discussion  Her 
Majesty  said:  “Well,  I will  leave  you  to  think 
the  matter  over.  If  you  don’t  like  the  young 
man  I have  chosen  there  are  plenty  of  others,” 
which  remark  did  not  help  me  very  much  as  I 
could  see  that  she  meant  to  marry  me  off  any- 
way. However,  I had  managed  to  get  out  of  it 
this  time,  and  thought  I would  be  able  to  arrange 


274  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


matters  satisfactorily  should  the  question  come 
up  again.  Nothing  further  was  said  about 
the  matter  until  nearly  a month  later  when  I 
heard  that  a marriage  had  been  arranged  be- 
tween this  gentleman  and  the  daughter  of  one 
of  the  princes.  So  everything  ended  very  satis- 
factorily from  my  point  of  view. 

The  twenty-sixth  day  of  the  eighth  moon  was 
the  occasion  of  another  celebration.  At  the  time 
the  Manchu  Dynasty  began,  Emperor  Shung 
Chih,  who  had  fought  very  hard  to  gain  the 
throne,  found  himself  on  the  twenty-sixth  day 
of  the  eighth  moon,  absolutely  out  of  provi- 
sions of  every  kind  and  it  was  necessary  for 
him  and  his  army  to  live  on  the  leaves  of  trees, 
which  was  the  only  form  of  food  obtainable  at 
the  time.  Thus  the  anniversary  of  this  day, 
even  up  to  the  present  time,  is  always  cele- 
brated by  the  Manchu  people,  who  deny  them- 
selves all  luxuries,  especially  at  the  Court.  We 
did  not  eat  any  meat  on  that  day,  but  otily  rice 
wrapped  in  lettuce  leaves.  Chopsticks  were  also 
discarded  and  the  food  was  conveyed  to  the 
mouth  by  the  hands  alone.  Even  the  Empress 
Dowager  was  no  exception  to  this  rule.  This  is 
done  in  order  to  remind  the  present  generation 
of  the  privation  suffered  by  their  ancestors  who 
established  the  Manchu  Dynasty. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  eighth  moon  Her 


THE  MID-AUTUMN  FESTIVAL 


275 


Majesty’s  gourd  plants,  which  had  been  planted 
early  in  the  spring,  were  ripening,  and  each  day 
she  would  take  us  all  to  see  what  progress  they 
were  making.  She  would  pick  out  those  which 
she  considered  to  be  the  most  perfect  in  form,  i.  e., 
those  with  the  smallest  waist  and  tie  ribbons 
around  them  so  as  not  to  lose  sight  of  them. 
She  pointed  to  one  of  these  plants  one  day,  and 
said  to  me:  “This  reminds  me  of  yourself  when 
dressed  in  foreign  clothes.  Surely  you  feel  more 
comfortable  in  the  clothes  you  are  now  wear- 
ing.” When  these  gourds  were  quite  ripe  they 
were  cut  down  and  Her  Majesty  would  scrape 
the  outer  skin  with  a bamboo  knife,  afterwards 
wiping  the  fruit  with  a wet  cloth.  They  were 
then  allowed  to  dry  and  after  a few  days  they 
would  assume  a brownish  color,  when  they  were 
ready  for  hanging  as  ornaments  in  the  Summer 
Palace.  In  one  room  alone  there  were  over 
10,000  of  these  gourds,  of  different  shapes.  It 
was  the  duty  of  the  Court  ladies  to  periodically 
wipe  these  gourds  with  a cloth,  in  order  to  give 
them  a shiny  appearance,  and  also  to  scrape  any 
new  ones  which  were  pulled  and  prepare  them  for 
the  Palace.  None  of  us  cared  very  much  about 
this  work  excepting  Her  Majesty.  One  day 
whilst  attending  to  these  gourds  I happened  to 
knock  the  top  off  one  of  the  old  ones  which  was 
Her  Majesty’s  particular  favorite.  I dared  not 


276  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


go  and  tell  Her  Majesty  what  had  happened  and 
one  of  the  Court  ladies  suggested  throwing  the 
thing  away  altogether  and  saying  nothing  about 
it  as  Her  Majesty  would  not  be  likely  to  find 
it  out,  having  so  many  of  them.  However,  I 
finally  decided  to  go  and  tell  Her  Majesty  about 
it,  and  take  punishment  if  necessary.  For 
a wonder  Her  Majesty  did  not  make  much 
bother  about  it.  She  said:  “Well  it  was  quite 
an  old  one  in  any  case  and  the  top  was  ready  to 
drop  off  at  any  time;  it  so  happens  that  you  were 
the  one  to  wipe  it,  and  of  course  it  came  off.  It 
can’t  be  helped.”  I told  Her  Majesty  that  I 
was  very  much  ashamed  at  being  so  careless,  es- 
pecially as  I knew  it  was  one  of  her  favorites, 
and  there  the  matter  ended.  All  the  rest  of  the 
Court  ladies  were  in  the  waitingroom  and  were 
anxious  to  know  how  I would  get  out  of  it,  and 
when  I told  them  they  said  that  had  it  been  any 
of  them  there  would  have  been  a fine  row.  They 
laughed,  and  said  it  must  be  nice  to  be  a favorite 
which  made  me  feel  very  uncomfortable.  I told 
the  Young  Empress  exactly  what  had  happened, 
and  she  said  I was  quite  right  to  tell  Her  Maj- 
esty the  truth  and  told  me  to  be  very  careful  as 
there  was  much  jealousy  going  on. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  moon  the  chry- 
santhemums commence  to  bud  and  it  was  the 
duty  of  the  ladies  of  the  Court  to  go  and  trim 


THE  MID-AUTUMN  FESTIVAL 


m 

them  each  day  by  cutting  away  all  the  buds 
except  one  on  each  stalk.  This  trimming  gives 
the  flower  a better  chance  of  developing,  a much 
larger  blossom  being  the  result.  Even  Her 
Majesty  would  help  with  this  work.  She  was 
very  particular  about  these  plants,  and  would 
not  allow  any  of  us  to  meddle  with  them  if  our 
hands  were  not  perfectly  cool,  as  to  touch  them 
with  hot  hands  would  cause  the  leaves  to  shrivel 
up.  These  flowers  are  generally  in  full  bloom 
about  the  end  of  the  ninth  moon  or  beginning  of 
the  tenth  moon.  Her  Majesty  had  a wonder- 
ful gift  of  being  able  to  tell  what  kind  of  flower 
would  bloom  from  each  separate  plant,  even  be- 
fore the  buds  appeared.  She  would  say:  “This 
is  going  to  be  a red  flower,”  and  we  would  place 
a bamboo  stick  in  the  flower  pot,  with  the  name 
written  on  it.  Then  another,  Her  Majesty 
would  declare  to  be  a white  one  and  we  would 
place  a similar  bamboo  stick  in  the  flower  pot, 
with  the  description,  and  so  on.  Her  Majesty 
said:  “This  is  your  first  year  at  the  Palace  and 
no  doubt  you  are  surprised  at  what  you  have 
just  seen  and  heard  me  say,  but  I have  never  yet 
made  a mistake.  For  you  will  see  when  the 
flowers  commence  to  bloom.”  It  was  a fact  as 
everything  turned  out  exactly  as  she  had  pre- 
dicted. None  of  us  ever  knew  how  she  was 
able  to  distinguish  one  from  the  other,  but  she 


278  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


was  always  right.  I did  once  ask  her  to  explain 
how  she  was  able  to  tell  but  she  answered  that 
it  was  a secret. 

All  this  time  the  portrait  was  proceeding  very 
slowly  and  one  day  Her  Majesty  asked  me  how 
long  I thought  it  would  be  before  it  wTas  finished 
and  what  the  custom  in  Europe  was  as  regards 
remuneration  for  such  a portrait.  I replied  that 
it  was  customary  to  pay  very  handsomely,  but 
she  would  not  hear  of  such  a suggestion,  saying 
that  in  China  it  was  not  the  custom  and  that  it 
would  be  regarded  as  an  insult  to  offer  money 
for  such  a service.  She  suggested  decorating 
Miss  Carl  as  a reward  for  her  services,  which  she 
considered  would  be  appreciated  far  more  than 
a money  present.  There  wras  nothing  for  me  to 
say  at  this  time  but  I determined  to  mention  the 
matter  again  when  a favorable  opportunity  oc- 
curred. 

During  the  ninth  moon  a Russian  circus  vis- 
ited Peking  and  of  course  everybody  talked  of 
little  else.  Her  Majesty,  hearing  so  much 
talk  about  this  circus  asked  what  it  was  like, 
and  after  we  had  explained  to  her,  she  became 
very  interested  and  said  that  she  would  like  to 
see  it.  My  mother  thought  it  would  be  a good 
idea  to  have  the  circus  brought  up  to  the  Summer 
Palace,  where  they  could  perform,  so  she  asked 
Iler  Majesty  whether  this  might  be  done.  Her 


THE  MID- AUTUMN  FESTIVAL 


279 


Majesty  was  delighted  with  the  idea,  and  ar- 
rangements were  accordingly  made  for  the  per- 
formance. While  everything  was  being  fixed, 
the  people  belonging  to  the  circus,  and  the 
animals,  were  quartered  near  our  own  house  and 
we  had  to  feed  them  at  our  own  expense.  How- 
ever, we  wanted  to  show  Her  Majesty  what  a 
circus  was  like  so  the  expense  did  not  matter. 
It  took  them  two  days  to  erect  the  tent  and 
make  all  necessary  preparations,  and  during  this 
time  Her  Majesty  received  reports  as  to  what 
was  being  done,  and  the  progress  they  were  mak- 
ing. 

The  day  before  the  performance,  we  noticed 
that  Her  Majesty,  on  coming  from  her  audience, 
looked  very  angry,  and  on  our  enquiring  what 
was  the  matter  she  informed  my  mother  and  my- 
self that  some  censors  had  raised  objections 
against  having  this  circus  in  the  Palace  grounds, 
as  there  had  never  been  anything  of  this  kind  al- 
lowed before  and  they  had  begged  Her  Majesty 
to  give  up  the  idea.  Her  Majesty  was  very  an- 
gry, and  said:  “You  see  how  much  power  I 
have  here;  I cannot  even  have  a circus  without 
somebody  raising  objections.  I think  we  had 
better  pay  them  something  and  let  them  go 
away.”  Of  course  we  agreed  to  anything  she 
thought  best.  After  considering  for  a time  Her 
Majesty  jumped  up  and  said:  “They  have  the 


280  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 

tent  up  already;  they  will  talk  just  the  same 
whether  we  have  the  circus  or  not;  I will  have 
it  anyway.”  So  the  performance  duly  took 
place  and  Her  Majesty  and  all  the  Court  were 
delighted.  One  item  consisted  of  a young  girl 
walking  and  dancing  on  a large  globe.  This 
especially  pleased  Her  Majesty  and  she  insisted 
on  the  performance  being  repeated  several  times. 
Another  item  of  interest  was  the  trapeze  act. 
Of  course  nobody  present  with  the  exception  of 
my  mother,  sister  and  myself  had  ever  seen  a cir- 
cus performance  before,  and  Her  Majesty  was 
very  much  afraid  that  the  man  would  fall  from 
the  trapeze  and  kill  himself.  Another  thing 
which  interested  Her  Majesty  was  the  bare-back 
riding,  which  she  thought  simply  wonderful. 
The  only  objection  to  the  whole  show  which  she 
raised  was  when  it  was  suggested  to  bring  in 
the  lions  and  tigers,  etc.  She  said  it  was  not 
safe  to  bring  wild  beasts  into  the  Palace  and  that 
she  would  rather  not  see  this  part  of  the  per- 
formance. The  proprietor  of  the  circus,  how- 
ever, brought  in  a small  baby  elephant  which 
performed  several  clever  tricks.  This  delighted 
Her  Majesty  more  than  anything  else  and  when 
the  proprietor  saw  how  pleased  she  was  he  offered 
the  elephant  as  a present,  which  she  accepted. 
However,  after  the  performance  was  over  we 
tried  to  make  him  go  through  his  tricks  again 


THE  MID-AUTUMN  FESTIVAL 


281 


but  he  would  not  budge  an  inch,  so  we  had  to  give 
it  up  as  a bad  job  and  send  him  away  to  be 
placed  along  with  the  other  elephants  belonging 
to  the  Palace. 

Altogether  there  were  three  performances 
given  by  the  circus,  and  before  the  final  per- 
formance, the  circus  Manager  told  me  that  he 
would  very  much  like  to  show  the  lions  and 
tigers:  there  was  no  chance  of  any  accident  and 
it  really  would  be  worth  seeing.  So  after  a lot 
of  discussion  Her  Majesty  finally  consented  to 
allow  them  to  be  brought  in  but  on  the  distinct 
understanding  that  they  should  not  be  let  out  of 
their  cages. 

When  they  were  brought  in  the  ring  all  the 
eunuchs  gathered  around  Her  Majesty,  and  after 
remaining  in  the  ring  for  a few  minutes  Her 
Majesty  ordered  them  to  be  taken  away  again. 
She  said:  “I  am  not  afraid  for  myself,  but  they 
might  get  loose  and  hurt  some  of  the  people.” 
This  item  finished  the  whole  of  the  performance 
and  the  circus  departed  richer  by  some  Taels 
10,000  which  Her  Majesty  had  ordered  to  be 
given  to  them. 

For  the  next  couple  of  days  we  discussed  the 
merits  of  the  circus  but  afterwards,  Her  Maj- 
esty, when  referring  to  the  subject,  expressed 
great  disappointment  with  the  whole  thing. 
She  said  she  had  expected  something  entirely 


282  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


different  and  far  more  wonderful.  This  was  an- 
other characteristic  of  Her  Majesty;  nothing 
pleased  her  for  more  than  five  minutes  at  a tune. 
She  said  to  me:  “I  don’t  see  anything  at  all  won- 
derful in  foreign  accomplishments.  Take  for 
instance  this  portrait  which  this  lady  is  paint- 
ing. I don’t  think  it  is  going  to  be  at  all  a good 
picture,  it  seems  so  rough.  (Her  Majesty  did  not 
understand  oil  painting).  Then  again  why 
should  she  always  want  to  have  the  things  before 
her  while  painting  them.  An  ordinary  Chinese 
artist  could  paint  my  dress,  shoes,  etc.,  after 
seeing  the  things  once.  She  cannot  be  very  much 
of  an  artist  in  my  opinion,  though  you  need  not 
tell  her  that  I said  so.”  Continuing,  Her  Maj- 
esty said:  “By  the  way,  what  do  you  talk  about 
when  you  are  posing  for  this  portrait  of  mine; 
although  I don’t  understand  what  she  is  saying, 
still  I can  see  she  has  a lot  to  say.  Be  sure  not  to 
tell  her  anything  connected  with  the  Court  life 
and  do  not  teach  her  any  Chinese.  I hear  that 
she  often  asks  what  different  things  are  called 
in  Chinese,  but  don’t  tell  her.  The  less  she 
knows  the  better  for  us.  I can  see  that  she  has 
seen  nothing  of  our  ordinary  Court  life,  as  yet. 
I wonder  what  she  would  say  if  she  were  to  see 
one  of  the  eunuchs  being  punished,  or  anything 
like  that.  She  would  think  that  we  were  savages, 
I suppose.  I noticed  the  other  day,  when  I was 


THE  MID-AUTUMN  FESTIVAL 


283 


angry,  that  you  took  this  lady  artist  away.  This 
was  very  wise  of  you ; it  is  better  that  she  should 
not  see  me  in  a temper,  she  might  talk  about  it 
afterwards.  I wish  this  portrait  was  finished. 
The  cool  weather  is  coming  on  and  we  have  to 
open  up  the  boxes  and  get  our  winter  clothes 
ready.  You  girls  need  winter  clothes  I know 
as  you  have  none  but  foreign  dresses.  Then, 
again,  my  birthday  is  next  month  and  there 
will  be  the  usual  celebrations.  After  that  we 
return  to  the  Sea  Palace,  and  what  can  we  do 
with  this  artist?  I suppose  she  will  have  to  go 
back  and  stay  at  the  American  Legation  and 
come  to  the  Sea  Palace  each  day  until  the  work 
is  finished.  This  will  be  a lot  of  trouble  as  it  is 
not  ten  minutes’  drive  as  at  present,  but  nearer 
an  hour’s  drive.  And  even  if  this  can  be  satis- 
factorily arranged,  what  about  the  Winter  Pal- 
ace in  the  Forbidden  City?  Try  and  get  to  know 
how  long  she  expects  to  be  before  it  is  finished.” 
This  gave  me  an  opportunity  to  tell  Her  Maj- 
esty that  Miss  Carl  was  just  as  anxious  to  get 
the  work  finished  as  she  was  to  have  it  finished, 
but  explained  that  Miss  Carl  had  very  little  time 
to  paint  as  Her  Majesty  could  spare  very  little 
time  to  give  personal  sittings,  and  again,  when 
Her  Majesty  went  to  lie  down  each  afternoon, 
Miss  Carl  had  to  stop  painting  as  she  was  work- 
ing in  the  next  room  to  Her  Majesty’s  bedroom. 


284  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


Her  Majesty  replied:  “Well,  if  she  expects  me 
to  sit  for  her  all  day  long  I will  give  up  the 
whole  thing  at  once,”  and  then  added:  “I  think 
you  yourself  are  getting  tired  of  sitting,  and 
want  me  to  take  it  up  again,  but  I have  already 
had  quite  enough  of  it.”  Of  course,  I told  her 
that  instead  of  being  tired  of  it,  I enjoyed  sitting 
on  Her  Throne,  which  I regarded  as  a great 
honor.  I explained  to  Her  Majesty  that  Miss 
Carl  did  not  like  me  to  pose  in  her  place,  as 
she  could  not  get  along  so  quickly  as  if  she  were 
to  sit  herself;  but  she  simply  said  that  I was 
acting  under  her  commands,  and  that  should  be 
sufficient  for  me. 

F or  the  next  ten  days  we  were  kept  very  busy 
selecting  materials  for  winter  clothing  and  also 
official  robes  for  my  sister  and  myself  to  be  worn 
during  the  forthcoming  birthday  celebrations. 
These  dresses  were  full  winter  Court  dresses,  of 
red  satin  embroidered  with  golden  dragons  and 
blue  clouds,  and  were  trimmed  with  gold  braid 
and  lined  with  grey  squirrel.  The  cuffs 
and  collars  (which  were  turned  down)  were  of 
sable.  While  Her  Majesty  was  giving  one  of 
the  eunuchs  instructions  as  to  how  these  were  to 
be  made,  the  Young  Empress  beckoned  to  me, 
and  I went  out.  She  said:  “You  go  and  kow- 
tow to  Her  Majesty  as  it  is  a great  favor  for 
her  to  give  you  a dress  trimmed  with  sable.  This 


THE  MID-AUTUMN  FESTIVAL 


285 


is  usually  only  worn  by  a Princess.”  So  when  I 
returned  to  the  room  I availed  myself  of  the  first 
opportunity  to  kowtow  and  thank  Her  Majesty 
for  the  great  favor  she  had  granted  me.  She 
answered:  ‘‘You  deserve  it,  and  I see  no  reason 
why  you  should  not  be  treated  as  a Princess  any- 
way; many  of  the  Princesses  are  not  of  the  Im- 
perial family.  Any  title  may  be  bestowed  for 
special  services  rendered  to  the  country  and  you 
have  been  of  more  help  to  me  than  any  other 
Court  lady  I have  ever  had,  and  I can  see  that 
you  are  faithful  in  the  discharge  of  your  duties. 
You  may  think  I do  not  notice  these  things,  but 
I do.  You  are  certainly  entitled  to  be  ranked 
as  a Princess,  and  in  fact  I never  treat  you  dif- 
ferent from  the  Princesses,  but  rather  better  in 
many  ways.”  Turning  to  a eunuch  she  said: 
“Bring  my  fur  cap  here.”  This  cap  was  made 
of  sable,  trimmed  with  pearls  and  jade  and  Her 
Majesty  explained  that  our  caps  would  be  some- 
thing after  the  same  style  except  that  the  crown, 
instead  of  being  yellow  as  in  the  case  of  Pier 
Majesty’s  cap,  would  be  red.  I was  naturally 
delighted.  In  addition  to  the  cap  and  full  Court 
dress  Her  Majesty  had  two  ordinary  dresses 
made  for  everyday  wear,  one  lined  with  sheep- 
skin and  the  other  lined  with  grey  squirrel. 
Then  she  gave  us  four  other  dresses  of  finer  ma- 
terial, lined  with  black  and  white  fox  skin,  and 


286  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


all  trimmed  with  gold  braid  and  embroidered 
ribbons.  In  addition  there  were  two  other 
dresses,  one  of  a pale  pink  color,  embroidered 
with  one  hundred  butterflies  and  the  other  of  a 
reddish  color  embroidered  with  green  bamboo 
leaves.  Several  short  jackets,  also  lined  with 
fur,  were  also  included  in  Her  Majesty’s  pres- 
ent, and  several  sleeveless  jackets  went  to  com- 
plete the  lot. 

On  coming  out  of  the  room,  one  of  the  Court 
ladies  remarked  that  I was  very  lucky  to  receive 
so  many  clothes  from  Her  Majesty  and  said  that 
she  had  never  received  so  many  during  the  whole 
time  she  had  been  at  the  Palace — nearly  ten 
years.  I could  see  she  was  jealous.  The  young 
Empress,  overhearing  this  conversation,  joined 
us  and  told  her  that  when  I arrived  at  the  Palace 
I had  nothing  but  foreign  clothes  and  how  was  I 
to  manage  if  Pier  Majesty  did  not  get  me  the 
proper  dresses.  This  incident  was  the  begin- 
ning of  another  unpleasant  time  for  me  with  the 
ladies  of  the  Court.  At  first  I took  no  notice 
until  one  day  one  of  the  girls  attached  to  the  Pal- 
ace joined  in  the  unkind  remarks.  She  said  that 
before  my  arrival  she  had  been  Her  Majesty’s 
particular  favorite,  but  I gave  her  to  understand 
that  she  had  no  right  to  discuss  me  in  any  way 
whatsoever.  The  Young  Empress,  who  was 
present,  spoke  to  them  about  their  treatment  of 


THE  MID-AUTUMN  FESTIVAL 


287 


me  and  said  that  some  fine  day  I would  be  telling 
Her  Majesty  about  it.  This  seemed  to  have  a 
good  effect  for  they  never  troubled  me  much 
afterwards  with  their  talk. 


CHAPTER  SIXTEEN 


THE  SUMMER  PALACE 

Just  about  the  end  of  the  ninth  moon  Her 
Majesty  began  to  tire  of  doing  nothing  day  after 
day,  and  said:  “What  is  the  use  of  waiting  until 
the  first  of  the  month  to  have  the  theatrical  per- 
formance? Let  us  have  a performance  to-mor- 
row.” So  she  gave  instructions  for  the  eunuchs 
to  prepare  for  the  play,  which  should  be  staged 
without  the  assistance  of  any  outside  actors.  I 
might  here  mention  that  certain  of  the  eunuchs 
were  specially  trained  as  actors  and  used  to  study 
their  parts  every  day.  Indeed,  they  were  far 
cleverer  than  the  professionals  from  outside. 

Her  Majesty  gave  the  head  eunuch  the  list 
of  the  plays  she  wished  to  be  performed,  which 
were  for  the  most  part  dramatised  fairy  tales,  and 
we  had  a performance  the  next  day. 

After  Her  Majesty  had  gone  to  rest  in  the 
afternoon,  during  the  theatrical  performance  I 
met  the  Emperor  returning  to  his  own  Palace. 
I was  surprised  to  see  only  one  eunuch  in  attend- 
ance. This  was  the  Emperor’s  own  private 
eunuch  and  he  trusted  him  implicitly.  He  asked 

288 


THE  SUMMER  PALACE 


289 


me  where  I was  going  and  I told  him  I was  go- 
ing to  my  room  to  rest  a while.  He  remarked 
that  he  had  not  seen  me  for  quite  a long  time, 
which  made  me  laugh  as  I saw  him  every  morn- 
ing at  the  audience.  He  said:  “I  don’t  get 
as  much  chance  of  chatting  with  you  as  formerly 
since  this  portrait  painting  began.  I am  afraid 
I am  not  making  much  progress  with  my  Eng- 
lish as  I have  nobody  to  help  me  now  that  your 
time  is  occupied  with  this  lady  artist.  You  ap- 
pear to  enjoy  her  company  very  much.  All  the 
same  I suppose  it  is  very  monotonous.  Has  she 
found  out  yet  that  you  are  there  simply  to  keep 
an  eye  upon  her?”  I told  him  that  I was  very 
careful  not  to  betray  myself  in  any  way  and  that 
I did  not  think  she  suspected  she  was  being 
watched. 

The  Emperor  then  said:  “I  understand  there 
is  a rumor  to  the  effect  that  when  this  lady  has 
finished  Her  Majesty’s  portrait  she  is  going  to 
paint  mine.  I should  very  much  like  to  know 
who  says  so.”  I told  him  this  was  the  first  I 
had  heard  about  it  so  could  not  say.  I asked 
him  whether  he  would  like  to  have  his  portrait 
painted  but  he  only  answered:  “That  is  rather  a 
difficult  question  for  me  to  answer.  You  know 
best  whether  I ought  to  have  it  painted  or 
not. 

“I  see  Her  Majesty  having  so  many  photo- 


290  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


graphs  taken  and  even  the  eunuchs  are  in  the 
picture.”  I understood  at  once  what  he  meant, 
so  I asked  him  if  he  wished  me  to  take  him 
with  my  little  kodak.  He  looked  surprised  and 
asked:  “Can  you  take  pictures,  too?  If  it  is  not 
too  risky  for  us,  we  might  try  it  some  day  when 
we  have  an  opportunity.  Don’t  forget,  but  I 
think  we  must  be  very  careful.” 

He  then  changed  the  conversation  by  saying: 
“Well,  now  that  we  have  time  to  talk  I want  to 
ask  you  a question  and  I expect  you  to  answer 
me  truly.  What  is  the  general  opinion  amongst 
the  foreigners  regarding  myself?  Do  they  con- 
sider me  a man  of  character  and  do  they  think  me 
clever?  I am  very  anxious  to  know.”  Before 
I could  say  anything  in  answer  to  this  question  he 
continued:  “I  know  very  well  that  they  regard 
me  as  nothing  more  than  a boy,  and  as  being  of 
no  consequence  at  all.  Tell  me,  is  not  this  so?” 
I replied  that  many  foreigners  had  asked  me 
about  him — as  to  what  kind  of  man  he  was,  but 
that  they  had  never  expressed  any  opinion  of 
their  own  regarding  him  excepting  that  they  un- 
derstood he  was  in  the  best  of  health.  “If  any 
wrong  impression  does  exist  regarding  myself 
and  my  position  at  the  Court,”  continued  the 
Emperor,  “it  is  owing  to  the  very  conservative 
customs  of  the  Chinese  Court.  I am  not  ex- 
pected to  either  say  or  do  anything  on  my  own 


THE  SUMMER  PALACE 


291 


initiative,  consequently  outsiders  never  hear  much 
about  me  and  I am  regarded  as  being  nothing 
more  than  a figure-head.  I know  this  is  so. 
Whenever  they  ask  you  about  me  in  the  future 
just  explain  to  them  exactly  what  my  position 
here  is.  I have  plenty  of  ideas  regarding  the 
development  of  this  country  but  you  know  I am 
not  able  to  carry  them  out  as  I am  not  my  own 
master.  I don’t  think  the  Empress  Dowager 
herself  has  sufficient  power  to  alter  the  state  of 
things  existing  in  China  at  present,  and  even  if 
she  has,  she  is  not  willing  to.  I am  afraid  it  will 
be  a long  time  before  anything  can  be  done  to- 
Avards  reform.” 

The  Emperor  went  on  to  say  how  nice  it 
would  be  if  he  were  allowed  to  travel  about  from 
place  to  place  the  same  as  the  European  mon- 
archs,  but  of  course  such  a thing  was  out  of  the 
question  for  him.  I told  him  that  several  Prin- 
cesses had  expressed  a wish  to  visit  the  St.  Louis 
Exposition  and  said  I thought  it  would  be  a good 
thing  if  that  could  be  arranged  as  they  would 
see  for  themselves  the  difference  between  their 
own  country  and  customs  and  foreign  countries 
and  customs.  The  Emperor  expressed  doubts 
as  to  this  permission  being  granted  as  such  a 
thing  had  never  been  heard  of  before. 

We  talked  for  quite  a long  time,  mostly  about 
foreign  customs,  and  the  Emperor  remarked  that 


292  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


he  would  very  much  like  to  visit  Europe  and  see 
for  himself  how  things  were  carried  on  there. 

Just  then  one  of  my  eunuchs  came  and  said 
that  Her  Majesty  was  awake,  so  I had  to  hurry 
off  to  her  room. 

We  now  arrive  at  the  tenth  moon. 

The  first  day  it  snowed,  and  the  head  eunuch 
enquired  of  Her  Majesty  whether  it  was  her  in- 
tention to  celebrate  her  birthday  at  the  Summer 
Palace  as  usual.  As  previously  explained  the 
Summer  Palace  was  Her  Majesty’s  favorite 
place  of  abode;  so  she  replied  in  the  affirmative 
and  arrangements  were  accordingly  made  for  the 
celebration  to  be  held  there  as  usual.  The  head 
eunuch  then  brought  Her  Majesty  a list  giving 
the  names  and  ranks  of  all  the  Princesses  and  the 
names  of  the  wives  and  daughters  of  the  Manchu 
officials,  and  she  selected  those  whom  she  wished 
to  be  present  at  the  celebrations.  On  this  occa- 
sion she  selected  forty-five  ladies,  who  were  duly 
informed  that  she  desired  their  presence  at  the 
Palace.  I was  standing  behind  Her  Majesty’s 
chair  all  this  time,  and  she  turned  and  said:  “Usu- 
ally I do  not  ask  many  people  to  my  birthday 
celebrations,  but  on  this  occasion  I have  made  an 
exception  as  I want  you  to  see  the  way  they  dress 
arid  how  ignorant  they  are  of  Court  etiquette.” 

The  celebrations  commenced  on  the  sixth  day 
of  the  tenth  moon.  Miss  Carl,  having  returned 


THE  SUMMER  TALACE 


293 


to  the  American  Legation  in  Peking  for  the  time 
being,  my  mother,  my  sister  and  myself  went 
back  to  the  Palace  again.  Early  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  sixth,  the  eunuchs  decorated  the 
verandas  with  different  colored  silks  and  hung 
lanterns  all  over  the  place  and  amongst  the  trees. 
At  about  seven  o’clock  in  the  morning  the  visitors 
began  to  arrive  and  I quite  agreed  with  what 
Her  Majesty  had  told  me  about  them.  The 
eunuchs  introduced  them  to  all  the  Court  ladies, 
but  they  seemed  to  have  very  little  to  say,  ap- 
pearing very  shy.  They  were  then  conducted  to 
the  waitingroom,  but  there  were  so  many  of 
them  that  we  Court  ladies  had  to  stand  outside 
on  the  veranda.  Some  of  them  were  very  ex- 
pensively dressed,  but  their  colors  were,  for  the 
most  part,  very  old  fashioned,  and  their  manners 
very  awkward.  We  watched  them  for  quite  a 
while  and  then  went  off  to  report  to  Her  Maj- 
esty. 

On  such  occasions  as  this  Her  Majesty  was 
generally  in  pretty  good  spirits.  She  com- 
menced asking  us  a lot  of  questions.  Amongst 
other  things  she  asked  whether  we  had  noticed 
an  elderly  lady  among  the  visitors,  dressed  as 
a bride.  She  explained  that  this  lady  was  the 
only  Manchu  lady  present  who  was  married  to 
a Chinese  official,  and  had  been  invited  because 
of  her  previous  connection  with  the  Court.  Her 


294  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


Majesty  said  she  had  never  seen  her  herself,  but 
understood  that  she  was  a very  clever  woman. 
W e had  not  noticed  such  a person,  and  suggested 
that  perhaps  she  had  not  yet  arrived. 

Her  Majesty  dressed  very  quickly,  and  as 
soon  as  she  was  ready  she  came  into  the  hall, 
where  the  head  eunuch  brought  in  the  visitors  and 
presented  them  to  Her  Majesty.  We  Court 
ladies  were  all  standing  in  a row  behind  the 
Throne.  As  they  came  in,  some  kowtowed ; oth- 
ers courtesied,  while  others  did  not  do  anything 
at  all,  in  fact  nobody  appeared  to  know  what 
to  do  with  herself.  Her  Majesty  spoke  a few 
words  of  welcome  and  thanked  them  for  the 
presents  they  had  sent  her. 

I would  like  to  say  here  that,  contrary  to  the 
general  idea  which  exists,  Her  Majesty  always 
expressed  her  thanks  for  any  present  or  service 
rendered,  no  matter  how  insignificant. 

Her  Majesty  could  see  plainly  that  everybody 
was  embarrassed  and  ordered  the  head  eunuch 
to  show  them  to  their  respective  rooms,  and  told 
them  to  make  themselves  at  home  and  to  go  and 
take  a rest.  They  hesitated  a moment,  not 
knowing  whether  to  go  or  not,  until  Her 
Majesty  said  to  us:  “Take  them  and  present 
them  to  the  Young  Empress.” 

When  we  arrived  at  the  Palace  of  the  Young 
Empress  they  were  duly  presented  and  were  not 


THE  SUMMER  PALACE 


295 


nearly  so  shy  as  before.  The  Young  Empress 
informed  them  that  in  case  they  desired  to  know 
anything  or  to  he  put  right  on  any  point  of 
Court  etiquette,  the  Court  ladies  would  be 
pleased  to  give  them  all  necessary  information 
and  she  decided  that  the  best  way  would  he  for 
each  Court  lady  to  have  charge  of  so  many  of 
the  visitors,  as  it  would  not  be  nice  to  have  any 
mistakes  occur  during  the  ceremony,  on  the 
tenth.  So  we  each  were  allotted  so  many  guests 
and  had  to  look  after  them  and  instruct  them  how 
to  act  on  the  different  occasions. 

During  ITer  Majesty’s  afternoon  rest  I paid 
a visit  to  the  guests  I was  to  take  charge  of. 
Among  them  was  the  bride  referred  to  by  Her 
Majesty.  So  I went  and  made  myself  agree- 
able to  her  and  found  her  very  interesting. 
She  had  evidently  received  a good  education,  un- 
like the  majority  of  Manchu  ladies,  as  I found 
she  could  read  and  write  Chinese  exception- 
ally well.  I then  explained  to  all  of  them  what 
they  would  have  to  do,  and  how  to  address 
Her  Majesty,  should  it  be  necessary  to  do  so. 
I don’t  know  whether  I have  mentioned  it  pre- 
viously, but  whenever  anybody  spoke  to  Her 
Majesty,  they  alwaj^s  addressed  her  as  “Great 
Ancestor,”  and  when  referring  to  themselves, 
instead  of  the  pronoun  “I,”  they  would  say 
“Your  slave.”  In  all  Manchu  families  a sim- 


£96  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


ilar  rule  is  observed,  the  pronouns  “You”  and 
“I”  being  dispensed  with  and  the  titles  “Mother” 
and  “Father”  and  the  son’s  or  daughter’s  first 
name  being  substituted. 

Her  Majesty  was  very  particular  about  this 
rule  being  strictly  observed. 

For  the  next  four  days,  until  the  day  of  the 
ceremony,  these  visitors  passed  their  time  in 
learning  the  Court  etiquette  and  going  to  the 
theatre. 

Every  morning,  as  usual,  we  waited  on  Her 
Majesty  and  reported  anything  of  interest  which 
had  occurred  during  the  previous  day.  Then 
we  all  preceded  Her  Majesty  to  the  theatre, 
where  we  awaited  her  arrival  standing  in  the 
courtyard.  On  Her  Majesty  appearing,  we 
would  all  kneel  down  until  she  had  passed  into 
the  building  opposite  the  stage,  kneeling  in  rows 
— first  the  Emperor,  behind  him  the  Young 
Princess,  next  the  Secondary  wife,  then  the 
Princesses  and  Court  ladies,  and  last  of  all  the 
visitors.  The  first  two  days  everything  went  off 
all  right,  but  on  the  third  morning  the  Emperor, 
from  whom  we  received  the  signal,  suddenly 
turned  and  said:  “Her  Majesty  is  coming.” 
Down  we  all  went  on  our  knees,  the  Emperor 
alone  remaining  standing  and  laughing  at  us. 
Of  course  there  was  no  sign  of  Her  Majesty  and 
everybody  joined  in  the  laugh.  He  was  never 


THE  SUMMER  PALACE 


297 


so  happy  as  when  he  could  work  off  a joke  like 
this. 

On  the  evening  of  the  ninth,  none  of  the  Court 
ladies  went  to  bed,  as  we  all  had  to  be  up  betimes 
on  the  morning  of  the  tenth.  The  visitors  were 
told  to  proceed  by  chair  to  Her  Majesty’s  spe- 
cial Audience  Hall  on  the  top  of  the  hill,  where 
they  were  to  await  our  arrival.  They  arrived  at 
the  Audience  Hall  at  three  o’clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  we  followed  soon  afterwards,  arriving 
there  about  daybreak.  By  and  bye  Her  Majesty 
arrived  and  the  ceremony  commenced.  This 
ceremony  in  no  way  differed  from  the  one  pre- 
viously described  in  connection  with  the  Em- 
peror’s birthday,  so  there  is  no  need  to  give  par- 
ticulars, except  one  thing.  Very  early  on  the 
morning  of  the  tenth,  we  had  to  bring  another 
present  to  her  and  each  of  us  brought  a hun- 
dred birds  of  various  kinds.  Each  year,  on  her 
birthday,  Her  Majesty  did  a very  peculiar 
thing.  She  would  buy  10,000  birds  with  her 
own  money,  from  her  private  purse  and  set  them 
free.  It  was  a very  pretty  sight  to  see  those 
huge  cages  hung  in  the  courtyard  of  the  Au- 
dience Hall.  Her  Majesty  would  select  the 
most  lucky  hour  and  order  the  eunuchs  to  carry 
the  cages  and  to  follow  her.  The  hour  selected 
was  four  o’clock  in  the  afternoon.  Her  Maj- 
esty took  the  whole  Court  with  her  to  the  top 


298  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


of  the  hill,  where  there  was  a Temple.  First 
she  burnt  sandal  wood  and  offered  up  prayers  to 
the  Gods,  then  the  eunuchs,  each  with  a cage  of 
birds,  knelt  in  front  of  Her  Majesty  and  she 
opened  each  cage  one  after  another  and  watched 
the  birds  fly  away,  and  prayed  to  the  Gods  that 
these  birds  should  not  be  caught  again.  Her 
Majesty  did  this  very  seriously  and  we  asked 
each  other  in  whispers  which  bird  we  thought 
was  the  prettiest  and  would  like  to  keep  it  for 
ourselves.  Among  this  lot  there  were  a few  par- 
rots. Some  were  pink;  others  were  red  and 
green;  all  were  chained  on  stands,  and  when  the 
eunuchs  broke  the  chains,  the  parrots  would  not 
move.  Her  Majesty  said:  “How  funny;  each 
year  a few  parrots  will  not  go  away  at  all  and 
I have  kept  them  until  they  died.  Look  at  them 
now.  They  won’t  go  away.”  By  this  time  the 
head  eunuch  arrived.  Her  Majesty  told  him 
what  had  happened  and  he  immediately  knelt 
down  and  said:  “Your  Majesty’s  great  luck. 
These  parrots  understand  Your  Majesty’s  kind- 
ness and  would  rather  stay  here  and  serve  Your 
Majesty.”  This  ceremony  is  called  “Fang 
Sheng.”  It  is  considered  a very  meritorious  ac- 
tion and  will  not  fail  of  reward  in  Heaven. 

One  of  the  Court  ladies  asked  me  what  I 
thought  of  the  parrots  that  would  not  fly  away, 
and  I told  her  that  it  was  really  very  strange. 


THE  SUMMER  PALACE 


299 


She  said:  “It  is  very  simple  and  not  strange  at 
all.  These  eunuchs,  ordered  by  the  head  one, 
have  bought  these  parrots  long  ago  and  trained 
them.  During  Her  Majesty’s  afternoon  rest, 
these  parrots  were  brought  to  the  top  of  the 
very  same  hill  every  day  to  accustom  them  to  the 
place.  The  object  of  this  is  just  to  please  and 
otherwise  fool  Her  Majesty,  to  make  her  feel 
happy  and  believe  that  she  is  so  merciful  that 
even  such  dumb  things  would  rather  stay  with 
her.”  Continuing,  she  said:  “The  huge  joke  is 
this:  while  Her  Majesty  is  letting  the  birds  free, 
there  are  a few  eunuchs  waiting  at  the  rear  of  the 
hill  to  capture  them  and  sell  them  again,  and  so, 
no  matter  how  Her  Majesty  prays  for  their  free- 
dom, they  will  be  caught  at  once.” 

The  celebrations  were  continued  until  the  thir- 
teenth day.  Nobody  did  any  work  and  all  was 
gaiety  and  enjoyment,  the  theatre  being  open 
every  day.  Towards  the  close  of  the  thirteenth 
day  the  visitors  were  informed  that  the  celebra- 
tions were  at  an  end  and  they  made  arrange- 
ments to  leave  early  the  next  morning.  They 
all  bade  Her  [Majesty  good-bye  that  evening  and 
departed  early  the  following  day. 

For  the  next  few  days  we  were  all  busy  pre- 
paring for  removing  to  the  Sea  Palace.  Her 
Majesty  consulted  her  book  and  finally  selected 
the  22d  as  being  the  most  favorable  day  for  this 


300  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


removal.  So  at  six  o’clock  on  the  morning  of 
the  22d  the  whole  Court  left  the  Summer  Palace. 
It  was  snowing  very  heavily  and  the  journey  was 
only  accomplished  with  great  difficulty.  Of 
course  we  were  all  in  chairs,  as  usual,  and  the 
eunuchs  who  were  not  employed  as  chair-bearers 
rode  horseback.  Many  of  the  horses  fell  on  the 
slippery  stones  and  one  of  Her  Majesty’s  chair- 
bearers  also  slipped  and  brought  Her  Majesty 
to  the  ground.  All  of  a sudden  I thought  some- 
thing dreadful  had  happened,  horses  galloping 
and  eunuchs  howling:  “Stop!  Stop!!”  I heard 
someone  saying:  “See  if  she  is  still  alive.”  The 
Avhole  procession  stopped  and  blocked  the  way. 
This  happened  on  the  stone  road  just  before 
entering  the  Western  Gate.  Finally  we  saw 
that  Her  Majesty’s  chair  was  resting  on  the 
ground,  so  we  all  alighted  and  went  forward  to 
see  what  had  happened.  A great  many  people 
were  talking  excitedly  all  at  the  same  time,  and 
for  a moment  I was  rather  frightened  (for  just 
about  that  time  we  heard  a rumor  that  some  of 
the  revolutionists  were  going  to  take  the  life  of 
the  whole  Court,  and,  although  we  heard  that, 
we  did  not  dare  tell  Her  Majesty),  so  I imme- 
diately went  to  her  chair  and  found  her  sitting 
there  composedly  giving  orders  to  the  chief 
eunuch  not  to  punish  this  chair-bearer,  for  he  was 
not  to  blame,  the  stones  being  wet  and  very  slip- 


Umbrella  Carriers  in  the  Funeral 


THE  SUMMER  PALACE 


801 


pery.  Li  Lien  Ying  said  that  would  never  do, 
for  this  chair-bearer  must  have  been  careless,  and 
how  dare  he  carry  the  Old  Buddha  in  this  careless 
way.  After  saying  this,  he  turned  his  head  to 
the  beaters  (these  beaters,  carrying  bamboo 
sticks,  went  everywhere  with  the  Court,  for  such 
occasions  as  this)  and  said:  “Give  him  eighty 
blows  on  his  back.”  This  poor  victim,  who  was 
kneeling  on  the  muddy  ground,  heard  the  order. 
The  beaters  took  him  about  a hundred  yards 
away  from  us,  pushed  him  down  and  started  to 
do  their  duty.  It  did  not  take  very  long  to  give 
the  eighty  blows  and,  much  to  my  surprise,  this 
man  got  up,  after  receiving  the  punishment,  as 
if  nothing  had  happened  to  him.  He  looked  just 
as  calm  as  could  be.  While  we  were  waiting  a 
eunuch  handed  me  a cup  of  tea,  which  I pre- 
sented to  Her  Majesty,  and  asked  her  if  she  was 
hurt.  She  smiled  and  said  it  was  nothing,  or- 
dering us  to  proceed  on  our  journey.  I must 
explain  about  this  tea;  the  eunuchs  had  it  pre- 
pared all  the  time  and  always  carried  a little 
stove  along  with  hot  water.  Although  this  went 
every  time  when  the  Court  moved,  it  was  seldom 
used. 

As  usual,  all  the  Court  ladies  take  a short  cut 
to  the  Palace,  so  as  to  be  ready  to  receive  Her 
Majesty,  when  she  arrived.  After  waiting  in 
the  courtyard  for  quite  a long  time,  during  which 


302  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


we  were  nearly  frozen,  Her  Majesty  arrived,  and 
we  all  knelt  until  she  had  passed,  and  then  fol- 
lowed her  into  the  Palace.  Her  Majesty  also 
complained  of  the  cold  and  ordered  that  fires 
should  he  brought  into  the  hall.  These  fires 
were  built  in  brass  portable  stoves  lined  with  clay, 
and  were  lighted  outside  and  brought  into  the 
hall  after  the  smoke  had  passed  off  somewhat. 
There  were  four  stoves  in  all.  All  the  windows 
and  doors  were  closed,  there  being  no  ventilation 
of  any  description,  and  very  soon  I began  to 
feel  sick.  However,  I went  on  with  my  work 
getting  Her  Majesty’s  things  in  order  until  I 
must  have  fainted,  for  the  next  thing  I remem- 
bered was  waking  up  in  a strange  bed  and  inquir- 
ing where  I was,  but  on  hearing  Her  Majesty 
giving  orders  in  the  next  room,  I knew  it  was 
all  right.  One  of  the  Court  ladies  brought  me 
a cup  of  turnip  juice  which  Her  Majesty  said 
I was  to  drink.  I drank  it  and  felt  much  better. 
I was  informed  that  Her  Majesty  had  gone  to 
rest,  and  so  I went  off  to  sleep  again  myself. 
When  I awoke,  Her  Majesty  was  standing  by 
my  bedside.  I tried  to  get  up,  but  found  that  I 
was  too  weak,  so  Her  Majesty  told  me  to  lie  still 
and  keep  quiet  and  I would  soon  be  all  right 
again.  She  said  that  I had  better  have  a room 
close  to  her  bedroom,  and  gave  instructions  for 
the  ennuchs  to  remove  me  there  as  soon  as  it  was 


THE  SUMMER  PALACE 


303 


prepared.  Every  few  minutes  Her  Majesty 
would  send  to  inquire  how  I was  progressing  and 
whether  I wanted  anything  to  eat.  It  was  the 
custom  to  stand  up  whenever  receiving  a message 
from  Her  Majesty,  but  it  was  out  of  the  ques- 
tion for  me  to  do  so,  although  I tried,  with  the 
result  that  I made  myself  worse  than  ever. 

Towards  evening  the  head  eunuch  came  to  see 
me  and  brought  several  plates  of  sweetmeats. 
He  was  very  nice,  and  told  me  that  I was  very 
fortunate,  as  Her  Majesty  very  rarely  bothered 
herself  about  any  of  the  Court  ladies  and  that 
evidently  she  had  taken  a fancy  to  me.  He  sat 
talking  for  some  little  time,  and  told  me  to  eat 
some  of  the  sweetmeats.  Of  course  I was  not 
able  to  eat  anything  at  all,  let  alone  sweetmeats, 
so  I told  him  to  leave  them  and  I would  eat 
them  later.  Before  leaving  he  said  that  in  case 
I wanted  anything  I was  to  let  him  know.  This 
visit  was  a great  surprise  me,  as  usually  he 
took  very  little  notice  of  any  of  us,  but  I was 
told  afterwards  that  the  reason  he  was  so  nice 
was  because  Her  Majesty  showed  such  an  inter- 
est in  me. 

The  next  morning  I was  able  to  get  up  and 
resume  my  duties.  I went  in  to  see  Her  Majesty 
and  kowtowed  to  her,  thanking  her  for  her  kind- 
ness during  my  indisposition.  Her  Majesty  said 
that  the  head  eunuch  had  told  her  the  previous 


304  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


evening  that  I was  much  better  and  that  she  was 
glad  I was  up  and  about  again.  She  said  it  was 
nothing  serious,  simply  that  I was  unaccustomed 
to  the  fumes  from  the  fires,  which  had  gone  to 
my  head. 

As  the  snow  had  stopped  falling,  Her  Majesty 
decided  that  the  next  day  we  would  go  and 
choose  a place  for  Miss  Carl  to  continue  the 
painting.  I suggested  that  perhaps  it  would  be 
better  if  we  waited  until  Miss  Carl  arrived  her- 
self, so  that  she  could  choose  a suitable  place  for 
her  work,  but  Her  Majesty  said  that  would  not 
do  at  all,  because  if  it  were  left  to  Miss  Carl, 
doubtless  she  would  choose  some  impossible 
place.  Of  course  there  were  many  parts  of  the 
Palace  which  were  kept  quite  private  and  Miss 
Carl  would  not  be  allowed  to  go  there.  So 
the  next  day  Her  Majesty  and  myself  set  out 
to  find  a place.  After  visiting  many  different 
rooms,  all  of  which  were  too  dark,  we  finally 
fixed  on  a room  on  the  lake  side  of  the  Palace. 
Her  Majesty  said:  “This  is  very  convenient,  as 
you  can  go  to  and  fro  either  by  chair  or  by  water. 
I found  that  it  took  about  three-quarters  of 
an  hour  by  chair  to  get  to  the  Palace  Gate,  and 
rather  less  than  that  by  boat.  I was  expecting 
to  return  to  stay  at  the  Palace  with  Her  Majesty, 
but  it  was  finally  decided  that  this  would  not  do, 
as  it  would  not  be  policy  to  allow  Miss  Carl, 


THE  SUMMER  PALACE 


305 


who  was  staying  at  the  American  Legation,  to 
go  in  and  out  of  the  Palace  Gate  alone,  so  Her 
Majesty  said  it  would  be  better  for  me  to  stay 
at  my  father’s  place  in  the  city  and  bring  Miss 
Carl  to  the  Palace  each  morning,  returning  with 
her  in  the  evening.  This  was  anything  but 
pleasant,  but  I had  no  other  alternative  than  to 
obey  Her  Majesty’s  instructions. 

When  Miss  Carl  arrived  at  the  Palace  the 
next  day  and  saw  the  room  which  had  been 
selected  for  her  to  work  in,  she  was  not  at  all 
pleased.  In  the  first  place  she  said  it  was  too 
dark,  so  Her  Majesty  ordered  the  paper  win- 
dows to  be  replaced  by  glass.  This  made  the 
room  too  bright,  and  Miss  Carl  asked  for  some 
curtains  so  as  to  focus  the  light  on  the  picture. 
When  I informed  Her  Majesty  of  this  request, 
she  said:  “Well,  this  is  the  first  time  I have  ever 
changed  anything  in  the  Palace  except  to  suit 
myself.  First  I alter  the  windows,  and  she  is 
not  satisfied,  but  must  have  curtains.  I think 
we  had  better  take  the  roof  off,  then  perhaps 
she  may  be  suited.”  However,  we  fixed  up  the 
curtains  to  Miss  Carl’s  satisfaction. 

When  Her  Majesty  examined  the  portrait  to 
see  how  it  was  progressing,  she  said  to  me: 
“After  all  the  trouble  we  have  had  over  this  pic- 
ture, I am  afraid  it  is  not  going  to  be  anything 
very  wonderful.  I notice  that  the  pearls  in  my 


306  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


cape  are  painted  in  different  colors;  some  look 
white,  some  pink,  while  others  are  green.  You 
tell  her  about  it.”  I tried  to  explain  to  Her 
Majesty  that  Miss  Carl  had  simply  painted  the 
pearls  as  she  saw  them,  according  to  the  different 
shades  of  light,  but  Her  Majesty  could  not 
understand  that  at  all  and  asked  if  I could  see 
anything  green  about  them,  or  pink  either.  I 
again  explained  that  this  was  simply  the  tints 
caused  by  the  light  falling  on  the  pearls,  but  she 
replied  that  she  could  not  see  any  shade  except 
white.  However,  after  a while  she  did  not  seem 
to  trouble  any  further  about  the  matter. 

Situated  in  a room  near  Her  Majesty’s  bed- 
room in  the  Sea  Palace  was  a Pagoda,  about  ten 
feet  in  height,  made  of  carved  sandalwood.  This 
contained  various  images  of  Buddha,  which  Her 
Majesty  used  to  worship  every  morning.  The 
ceremony  consisted  of  Her  Majesty  burning 
incense  before  the  Pagoda,  while  a Court  lady 
was  told  off  each  day  to  kowtow  before  the 
images.  Her  Majesty  told  me  that  this  Pagoda 
had  been  in  the  Palace  for  more  than  a hundred 
years.  Among  the  different  images  was  one 
representing  the  Goddess  of  Mercy.  This  im- 
age was  only  about  five  inches  in  height  and  was 
made  of  pure  gold.  The  inside  was  hollow  and 
contained  all  the  principal  anatomical  parts  of 
the  human  body,  made  out  of  jade  and  pearls. 


THE  SUMMER  PALACE 


307 


This  Goddess  of  Mercy  was  supposed  to  possess 
wonderful  powers  and  Her  Majesty  often  wor- 
shiped before  it  when  in  any  trouble,  and  main- 
tained that  on  many  occasions  her  prayers  had 
been  answered.  She  said:  “Of  course,  when  I 
pray  to  the  image,  I pray  earnestly,  not  the  same 
as  you  girls,  who  simply  kowtow  because  it  is 
your  duty  and  then  get  away  as  quickly  as  pos- 
sible.” Her  Majesty  went  on  to  say  that  she 
was  quite  aware  that  many  of  the  people  in 
China  were  discarding  the  religion  of  their 
ancestors  in  favor  of  Christianity,  and  that  she 
was  very  much  grieved  that  this  was  so. 

Her  Majesty  was  a firm  believer  in  the  old 
Chinese  superstitions  connected  with  the  Sea 
Palace,  and  during  one  of  our  conversations  she 
told  me  I was  not  to  be  surprised  at  anything  I 
saw.  She  said  it  was  quite  a common  occurrence 
for  a person  walking  beside  you  to  suddenly  dis- 
appear altogether,  and  explained  that  they  were 
simply  foxes  who  took  human  shape  to  suit  their 
purpose.  They  had  probably  lived  in  the  Sea 
Palace  for  thousands  of  years  and  possessed  this 
power  of  changing  their  form  at  will.  She  said 
that  no  doubt  the  eunuchs  would  tell  me  they 
were  spirits  or  ghosts,  but  that  was  not  true : they 
were  sacred  foxes  and  would  harm  nobody.  As 
if  to  confirm  this  superstition,  one  evening,  a few 
days  later,  my  fire  having  gone  out,  I sent  my 


308  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


eunuch  to  see  if  any  of  the  other  Court  ladies 
were  awake,  and  if  so,  to  try  to  get  me  some  hot 
water.  He  went  out  taking  his  lantern  along 
with  him,  but  he  returned  almost  immediately 
with  a face  as  white  as  chalk.  On  inquiring 
what  was  the  matter,  he  replied:  “I  have  seen  a 
ghost:  a woman,  who  came  up  to  me,  blew  the 
light  out  and  disappeared.”  I told  him  that  per- 
haps it  was  one  of  the  servant  girls,  but  he  said 
“No”;  he  knew  all  the  women  attached  to  the 
Palace  and  he  had  never  seen  this  one  before. 
He  stuck  to  it  that  it  was  a ghost.  I told  him 
that  Her  Majesty  had  said  there  were  no  ghosts, 
but  that  it  might  be  a fox  which  had  taken  human 
shape.  He  replied:  “It  was  not  a fox.  Her 
Majesty  calls  them  foxes,  because  she  is  afraid 
to  call  them  ghosts.”  He  went  on  to  tell  me  that 
many  years  previously  the  head  eunuch,  Li  Lien 
Ying,  while  walking  in  the  courtyard  back  of 
Her  Majesty’s  Palace,  saw  a young  servant  girl 
sitting  on  the  edge  of  the  well.  He  went  over 
to  ask  her  what  she  was  doing  there,  but  on  get- 
ting closer  he  found  that  there  were  several  other 
girls  there  also,  and  on  seeing  him  approach,  they 
all  deliberately  jumped  down  the  well.  He 
immediately  raised  the  alarm,  and  on  one  of  the 
attendants  coming  forward  with  a lantern,  he 
explained  what  had  occurred.  The  attendant 
showed  him  that  it  was  impossible  for  anybody 


THE  SUMMER  PALACE 


309 


to  jump  into  the  well,  as  it  was  covered  with  a 
large  stone.  My  eunuch  said  that  a long  time 
before  this  several  girls  did  actually  commit  sui- 
cide by  jumping  down  this  well,  and  that  what 
Li  Lien  Ying  had  seen  were  the  ghosts  of  these 
girls,  and  nothing  more.  It  is  believed  by  the 
Chinese  that  when  a person  commits  suicide 
their  spirit  remains  in  the  neighborhood  until 
such  time  as  they  can  entice  somebody  else  to 
commit  suicide,  when  they  are  free  to  go  to 
another  world,  and  not  before.  I told  him  that 
I did  not  believe  such  things  and  that  I would 
very  much  like  to  see  for  myself.  He  replied: 
“You  will  only  want  to  see  it  once;  that  will  he 
sufficient.” 

Things  went  along  in  the  usual  way  until  the 
first  day  of  the  eleventh  moon,  when  Her 
Majesty  issued  orders  to  the  Court  that  as  the 
eleventh  moon  contained  so  many  anniversaries 
of  the  deaths  of  previous  rulers  of  China,  the 
usual  theatrical  performance  would  be  eliminated 
and  the  Court  dress  would  in  addition  he  modi- 
fied to  suit  the  occasion.  On  the  ninth  day  the 
Emperor  was  to  go  and  worship  at  the  Temple 
of  Heaven.  So,  as  was  customary  on  all  these 
occasions,  he  confined  himself  to  his  own  private 
apartments  for  three  days  before  the  ninth,  dur- 
ing which  time  he  held  no  communication  whatso- 
ever with  anybody  excepting  his  private  eunuchs. 


310  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


Not  even  the  Young  Empress,  his  wife,  was 
allowed  to  see  him  during  these  three  days. 

This  ceremony  did  not  differ  very  materially 
from  the  other  sacrifices,  except  that  pigs  were 
killed  and  placed  on  the  numerous  altars  of  the 
Temple,  where  they  remained  for  a time,  after 
which  they  were  distributed  among  the  different 
officials.  The  eating  of  the  flesh  of  these  pigs, 
which  had  been  blessed,  was  believed  to  bring 
good  luck  and  prosperity,  and  the  officials  who 
were  presented  with  them  considered  themselves 
greatly  favored  by  Her  Majesty.  Another  dif- 
ference was  that  the  Emperor  could  not  appoint 
a substitute  to  officiate  for  him;  hut  must  attend 
in  person,  no  matter  what  the  circumstances 
might  be.  The  reason  for  this  was,  that  accord- 
ing to  the  ancient  law,  the  Emperor  signs  the 
death  warrant  of  every  person  sentenced  to 
death,  record  of  which  is  kept  in  the  Board  of 
Punishments.  At  the  end  of  the  year  the  name 
of  each  person  executed  is  written  on  a piece  of 
yellow  paper  and  sent  to  the  Emperor.  When 
the  time  for  worshiping  at  the  Temple  arrives, 
he  takes  this  yellow  paper  and  burns  it  in  order 
that  the  ashes  may  go  up  to  Heaven  and  his  an- 
cestors know  that  he  has  been  fearless  and  faith- 
ful, and  has  done  his  duty  according  to  the  law. 

As  this  ceremony  of  -worshiping  at  the  Tem- 
ple of  Heaven  was  to  take  place  in  the  For- 


THE  SUMMER  PALACE 


311 


bidden  City,  in  spite  of  Her  Majesty’s  dislike 
to  the  place,  she  commanded  that  the  whole  of 
the  Court  be  transferred  there,  her  reason  for 
this  being  that  she  did  not  wish  to  be  away 
from  the  Emperor’s  side  even  for  an  hour.  So 
we  all  moved  to  the  Palace  in  the  Forbidden 
City.  After  the  ceremony  was  over,  the  Court 
was  to  return  to  the  Sea  Palace,  but  as  the  thir- 
teenth day  was  the  anniversary  of  the  death  of 
the  Emperor  Kang  Hsi,  it  was  decided  that  we 
should  remain  in  the  Forbidden  City,  where  the 
ceremony  was  to  be  held.  The  Emperor  Kang 
Hsi  ruled  over  the  Chinese  Empire  for  sixty-one 
years,  the  longest  reign  of  any  Chinese  Ruler 
up  to  the  present  time,  and  Her  Majesty  told 
us  that  he  was  the  most  wonderful  Emperor 
China  had  ever  had  and  that  we  must  respect 
his  memory  accordingly. 


CHAPTER  SEVENTEEN 


THE  AUDIENCE  HALL 

On  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  eleventh  moon, 
after  the  morning  audience,  Her  Majesty 
informed  us  that  there  was  a likelihood  of  war 
breaking  out  between  Russia  and  Japan  and 
that  she  was  very  much  troubled,  as  although  it 
actually  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  China, 
she  was  afraid  they  would  fight  on  Chinese  terri- 
tory and  that  in  the  long  run  China  would  suffer 
in  some  way  or  other.  Of  course  we  did  not 
bother  ourselves  about  it  much  at  the  moment, 
but  the  next  morning  the  head  eunuch  reported 
to  Her  Majesty  that  fifty  eunuchs  were  missing. 
As  there  was  no  apparent  reason  for  this,  every- 
body was  much  excited.  There  was  no  rule 
against  any  of  the  eunuchs  going  into  the  city 
after  their  duties  were  ended,  providing  they 
returned  before  the  Palace  Gate  was  closed,  but 
when  on  the  following  morning  it  was  reported 
that  another  hundred  eunuchs  had  also  disap- 
peared, Her  Majesty  at  once  said:  “I  know  now 
what  the  trouble  is;  they  must  have  heard  what 
I said  about  this  war  coming  on  and  are  afraid 

312 


THE  AUDIENCE  HALL 


313 


there  may  be  a repetition  of  the  Boxer  trouble, 
and  so  they  have  cleared  out.”  It  was  the  cus- 
tom whenever  a eunuch  was  missing  to  send 
out  search  parties  and  have  him  brought  back 
and  punished,  but  in  the  present  instance  Her 
Majesty  gave  instructions  that  nothing  was  to 
be  done  about  recapturing  them.  One  morn- 
ing, however,  one  of  Her  Majesty’s  personal 
attendants  was  missing,  which  made  her  furious. 
She  said  that  she  had  been  very  kind  to  this 
particular,  eunuch  in  many  ways,  and  this  was 
all  the  thanks  she  got;  he  ran  away  at  the  first 
sign  of  trouble.  I myself  had  noticed  how  good 
she  had  been  to  this  eunuch,  but  I was  not  really 
sorry  that  he  had  left,  as  he  used  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  every  opportunity  of  getting  some  of 
the  Court  ladies  into  trouble. 

These  disappearances  continued  from  day  to 
day  until  Her  Majesty  decided  that  it  would 
be  safer  for  us  to  remain  in  the  Forbidden  City 
until  the  following  spring  at  any  rate. 

On  inquiring  from  my  eunuch  the  cause  of 
these  disappearances,  he  said  that  it  was  just  as 
Her  Majesty  suspected;  they  were  afraid  of  get- 
ting mixed  up  in  another  such  affair  as  the  Boxer 
trouble,  and  added  that  he  was  not  a bit  sur- 
prised at  Her  Majesty’s  favorite  eunuch  going 
along  with  the  rest.  He  further  told  me  that 
even  Li  Lien  Ying  himself  was  not  to  be  abso- 


314  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


lutely  relied  upon,  as  at  the  time  of  Her 
Majesty’s  leaving  Peking  for  Shi  An  during  the 
Boxer  movement,  he  had  feigned  sickness,  and 
followed  a little  later,  so  that  in  the  event  of 
anything  happening,  he  would  be  able  to  return 
and  make  his  escape.  While  talking  about  Li 
Lien  Ying,  my  eunuch  told  me  in  confidence  that 
he  was  responsible  for  the  death  of  many  inno- 
cent people,  mostly  eunuchs.  He  had  unlimited 
power  at  the  Court,  and  it  was  very  easy  for  him 
to  get  anybody  put  away  who  offended  him  or 
to  whom,  for  some  reason  or  another,  he  took  a 
dislike.  Furthermore,  the  eunuch  informed  me 
that,  although  not  generally  known,  Li  Lien 
Ying  was  addicted  to  opium-smoking,  which 
habit  he  indulged  in  very  freely.  Even  Her 
Majesty  was  unaware  of  this,  as  opium-smoking 
was  strictly  forbidden  in  the  Palace. 

Each  morning  there  was  fresh  news  regarding 
the  trouble  between  Russia  and  Japan,  and  of 
course  everybody  gradually  became  very  much 
excited  at  the  Palace.  One  day  Her  Majesty 
summoned  the  whole  of  the  Court  to  a special 
audience  and  there  informed  us  that  there  was 
no  need  for  us  to  get  excited  at  all;  that  if  any 
trouble  did  occur,  it  was  none  of  our  business 
and  we  should  not  be  interfered  with,  as  the 
spirits  of  our  ancestors  were  watching  over  us, 
and  she  did  not  want  to  hear  any  more  talk 


THE  AUDIENCE  HALL 


315 


and  gossip  on  the  subject.  However,  she  sum- 
moned all  of  the  Court  ladies  to  her  apartment 
and  there  commanded  us  to  pray  to  the  spirits 
of  our  ancestors  to  protect  us,  which  plainly 
showed  that  she  was  just  as  much  worried  as 
we  were  ourselves.  In  spite  of  what  she  had 
said  with  reference  to  gossipping  about  this 
trouble,  Her  Majesty  often  spoke  about  it  her- 
self, and  during  one  of  our  conversations  she  said 
she  wished  she  could  get  information  each  day 
as  to  what  was  actually  occurring,  so  I suggested 
that  it  would  be  very  easy  to  get  all  the  lat- 
est news  by  taking  the  foreign  papers  and  also 
Reuter’s  specials.  Her  Majesty  jumped  at  the 
suggestion  and  told  me  to  have  these  sent  each 
day  to  my  father’s  house  in  his  name,  and  have 
them  brought  to  the  Palace,  where  I could  trans- 
late them  for  her.  I told  her  that  my  father 
received  all  these  papers  as  they  were  published, 
so  I arranged  that  they  should  be  brought  along 
as  directed  by  Her  Majesty.  Each  morning  dur- 
ing the  audience  I translated  into  Chinese  all  the 
war  news,  but  the  telegrams  began  to  arrive  so 
rapidly  that  it  soon  became  quite  impossible  for 
me  to  write  them  all  out  in  Chinese,  so  I told 
Her  Majesty  that  I would  read  and  translate 
them  into  Chinese  as  they  arrived.  This  was 
much  quicker  and  interested  Her  Majesty  so 
much  that  she  insisted  on  my  not  only  translating 


316  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


the  war  news,  but  everything  else  of  interest  in 
the  papers.  Especially  was  she  interested  in  all 
news  appertaining  to  the  movements,  etc.,  of  the 
crowned  heads  of  Europe,  and  was  very  plainly 
astonished  when  she  learned  that  their  every 
movement  was  known.  She  said:  “Here,  at  any 
rate,  it  is  more  private,  for  nobody  outside  the 
Palace  ever  knows  what  is  going  on  inside,  not 
even  my  own  people.  It  wrould  be  a good  thing 
if  they  did  know  a little  more,  then  perhaps  all 
these  rumors  about  the  Palace  would  stop.” 

Of  course,  during  our  stay  in  the  Forbidden 
City,  Miss  Carl  attended  each  morning  to  work 
on  the  portrait.  We  had  given  her  a nice  room, 
which  seemed  to  suit  her  very  well,  and  Her 
Majesty  had  instructed  me  to  let  her  have  every 
convenience  possible  to  assist  her,  as  she  was 
getting  tired  of  the  business  and  would  like  to 
see  it  finished  quickly.  Her  Majesty  hardly 
ever  went  near  the  place  herself,  but  when  she 
did  go,  she  would  be  most  affable  and,  really,  one 
would  think  that  it  was  the  greatest  pleasure 
of  her  life  to  go  and  inspect  the  portrait. 

Things  went  very  slowly  during  this  eleventh 
moon  on  account  of  the  Court  being  in  mourn- 
ing, so  one  day  Her  Majesty  suggested  that 
she  should  show  us  round  the  Forbidden  City. 
First  we  proceeded  to  the  Audience  Hall.  This 
differs  somewhat  from  the  Audience  Hall  of  the 


THE  AUDIENCE  HALL 


317 


Slimmer  Palace.  To  enter,  one  must  mount 
some  twenty  odd  steps  of  white  marble,  with 
rails  on  either  side  of  the  steps  made  of  the  same 
material.  At  the  top  of  the  steps  a large 
veranda,  supported  by  huge  pillars  of  wood, 
painted  red,  surrounded  the  building.  The  win- 
dows along  this  verandah  were  of  marvellously 
carved  trellis-work,  designed  to  represent  the 
character  “Shou”  arranged  in  different  positions. 
Then  we  entered  the  hall  itself.  The  floor  is  of 
brick,  and  Her  Majesty  told  us  that  all  these 
bricks  were  of  solid  gold  and  had  been  there  for 
centuries.  They  were  of  a peculiar  black  color, 
doubtless  painted  over,  and  were  so  slippery  that 
it  was  most  difficult  to  keep  on  one’s  feet.  The 
furnishing  was  similar  to  that  in  the  Audience 
Halls  in  the  Summer  Palace  and  in  the  Sea  Pal- 
ace, with  the  exception  that  the  throne  was  made 
of  dark  brown  wood  inlaid  with  jade  of  different 
colors. 

The  Hall  was  only  used  for  audience  on  very 
rare  occasions,  such  as  the  birthday  of  the 
Empress  Dowager  and  New  Year’s  Day,  and  no 
foreigner  has  ever  entered  this  building.  All  the 
usual  audiences  were  held  in  a smaller  building 
in  the  Forbidden  City. 

After  spending  some  little  time  in  the  Audi- 
ence Hall,  we  next  visited  the  Emperor’s  quar- 
ters. These  were  much  smaller  than  those 


318  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


occupied  by  Her  Majesty,  but  were  very  elab- 
orately furnished.  There  were  thirty-two  rooms, 
many  of  which  were  never  used,  but  all  were  fur- 
nished in  the  same  expensive  style.  In  the  rear 
of  this  building  was  the  Palace  of  the  Young 
Empress,  which  was  smaller  still,  having  about 
twenty-four  rooms  in  all,  and  in  the  same  build- 
ing three  rooms  were  set  apart  for  the  use  of  the 
Secondary  wife  of  the  Emperor.  Although 
close  together,  the  Palaces  of  the  Emperor  and 
his  wife  were  not  connected  by  any  entrance,  but 
both  buildings  were  surrounded  by  verandas 
connecting  with  Her  Majesty’s  apartments, 
which  were  quite  a distance  away.  There  were 
several  other  buildings,  which  were  used  as  wait- 
ingrooms  for  visitors.  In  addition  to  the  above, 
there  were  several  buildings  which  were  not  used 
at  all;  these  were  sealed  and  nobody  seemed  to 
know  what  they  contained,  or  whether  they  con- 
tained anything  at  all.  Even  Her  Majesty  said 
she  had  never  been  inside  these  buildings,  as  they 
had  been  sealed  for  many  years.  Even  the 
entrance  to  the  enclosure  containing  these  build- 
ings was  always  closed,  and  this  was  the  only 
occasion  that  any  of  us  ever  even  passed  through. 
They  were  quite  different  in  appearance  from 
any  other  buildings  in  the  Palace,  being  very  dirty 
and  evidently  of  great  age.  We  were  com- 
manded not  to  talk  about  the  place  at  all. 


THE  AUDIENCE  HALL 


319 


The  apartments  of  the  Court  ladies  were  con- 
nected with  those  of  Her  Ma j esty,  but  the  rooms 
were  so  small  one  could  hardly  turn  round  in 
them;  also  they  were  very  cold  in  winter.  The 
servants’  quarters  were  at  the  end  of  our  apart- 
ments, but  there  was  no  entrance  and  they  could 
only  be  reached  by  passing  along  our  veranda, 
while  the  only  entrance  we  ourselves  had  to  our 
rooms  was  by  passing  along  Her  Majesty’s  ver- 
anda. This  was  Her  Majesty’s  own  idea,  in  or- 
der that  she  could  keep  an  eye  on  all  of  us  and 
could  see  when  we  either  went  out  or  came  in. 

Her  Majesty  now  conducted  us  to  her  own 
Palace,  and  pausing  a little  said:  “I  will  now 
show  you  something  which  will  be  quite  new  to 
you.”  We  entered  a room  adjoining  her  bed- 
room, which  was  connected  by  a narrow  passage 
some  fifteen  feet  in  length.  On  either  side  the 
walls  were  painted  and  decorated  very  beauti- 
fully. Her  Majesty  spoke  to  one  of  the  eunuch 
attendants,  who  stooped  down  and  removed  from 
the  ground  at  each  end  of  this  passage  two 
wooden  plugs  which  were  fitted  into  holes  in  the 
basement.  I then  began  to  realize  that  what  I 
had  hitherto  regarded  as  solid  walls  were  in  real- 
ity sliding  panels  of  wood.  These  panels  when 
opened  revealed  a kind  of  grotto.  There  were 
no  windows,  but  in  the  roof  was  a skylight.  At 
one  end  of  this  room  or  grotto  was  a large  rock, 


320  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


on  the  top  of  which  was  a seat  with  a yellow 
cushion,  and  beside  the  cushion  an  incense 
burner.  Everything  had  the  appearance  of 
being  very  old.  The  room  contained  no  furni- 
ture of  any  description.  One  end  of  this  room 
led  into  another  passage  similar  to  the  one 
already  described,  having  sliding  panels,  which 
led  into  another  grotto,  and  so  on;  in  fact  the 
whole  of  the  palace  walls  were  intersected  by 
these  secret  passages,  each  concealing  an  inner 
room.  Her  Majesty  told  us  that  during  the 
Ming  dynasty  these  rooms  had  been  used  for 
various  purposes,  principally  by  the  Emperor 
when  he  wished  to  be  alone.  One  of  these  secret 
rooms  was  used  by  Her  Majesty  as  a treasure 
room  where  she  kept  her  valuables.  During  the 
time  of  the  Boxer  trouble,  she  hid  all  her  val- 
uables here  before  she  fled.  When  she  returned 
and  opened  this  secret  room  she  found  every- 
thing intact,  not  one  of  the  vandals  who  ran- 
sacked the  Palace  even  suspecting  there  was  such 
a idace. 

We  returned  to  our  veranda,  and  on  looking 
around  for  the  rooms  we  had  just  vacated,  could 
see  nothing  excepting  black  stone  walls,  so  well 
were  they  hidden.  One  of  the  principal  reasons 
for  Her  Majesty’s  dislike  to  the  Forbidden  City 
was  the  mysteries  which  it  contained,  many  of 
which  she  did  not  know  of  herself.  She  said: 


THE  AUDIENCE  HALL 


321 


“I  don’t  even  talk  about  these  places  at  all,  as 
people  might  think  that  they  were  used  for  all 
kinds  of  purposes.” 

While  at  the  Palace  in  the  Forbidden  City  I 
met  the  three  Secondary  wives  of  the  previous 
Emperor  Tung  Chi,  son  of  the  Empress  Dow- 
ager, who,  since  the  death  of  the  Emperor,  had 
resided  in  the  Forbidden  City  and  spent  their 
time  in  doing  needlework,  etc.,  for  Her  Majesty. 
When  I got  to  know  them  I found  that  they 
were  highly  educated,  one  of  them,  Yu  Fai,  being 
excej)tionally  clever.  She  could  write  poetry 
and  play  many  musical  instruments,  and  was 
considered  to  be  the  best  educated  lady  in  the 
Empire  of  China.  Her  knowledge  of  western 
countries  and  their  customs  surprised  me  very 
much;  she  seemed  to  know  a little  bit  of  every- 
thing. I asked  how  it  was  that  I had  never 
seen  them  before,  and  was  informed  that  they 
never  visited  Her  Majesty  unless  commanded  by 
her  to  do  so,  but  that  when  Her  Majesty  stayed 
in  the  Forbidden  City,  of  course  they  had  to  call 
and  pay  their  respects  each  day.  One  day  I 
received  an  invitation  to  visit  them  in  their  Pal- 
ace. This  was  separated  from  all  the  other 
buildings  in  the  city.  It  was  rather  a small 
building,  and  very  simply  furnished,  with  just  a 
few  eunuchs  and  servant  girls  to  wait  upon  them. 
They  said  they  preferred  this  simple  life,  as  they 


322  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


never  received  any  visitors  and  had  nobody  to 
please  but  themselves.  Yu  Fai’s  room  was  lit- 
erally packed  with  literature  of  all  descriptions. 
She  showed  me  several  poems  which  she  had 
written,  but  they  were  of  a melancholy  character, 
plainly  showing  the  trend  of  her  thoughts.  She 
was  in  favor  of  establishing  schools  for  the  edu- 
cation of  young  girls,  as  only  very  few  could 
even  read  or  write  their  own  language,  and  she 
suggested  that  I should  speak  to  Her  Majesty 
about  it  at  the  first  opportunity.  In  spite  of  her 
desire  to  see  western  reforms  introduced  into 
China,  however,  she  was  not  in  favor  of  employ- 
ing missionary  teachers,  as  these  people  always 
taught  their  religion  at  the  expense  of  other  sub- 
jects, which  she  feared  would  set  the  Chinese 
against  the  movement. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  eleventh  moon  Her 
Majesty  granted  an  audience  to  the  Viceroy  of 
Chihli,  Yuan  Shih  Ivai,  and  as  this  particular  day 
was  a holiday  and  Miss  Carl  was  absent,  I was 
able  to  attend.  Her  Majesty  asked  him  for  his 
opinion  of  the  trouble  between  Russia  and  Japan. 
He  said  that  although  these  two  countries  might 
make  war  against  each  other,  China  would  not 
be  implicated  in  any  way,  but  that  after  the 
war  was  over,  there  was  sure  to  be  trouble 
over  Manchuria.  Her  Majesty  said  she  was 
quite  aware  of  that,  as  they  were  fighting  on 


THE  AUDIENCE  HALL 


323 


Chinese  territory,  and  that  the  best  thing  for 
China  to  do  would  be  to  keep  absolutely  neutral 
in  the  matter,  as  she  had  quite  enough  of  war 
during  the  China- Japan  war.  She  said  it  would 
be  best  to  issue  orders  to  all  the  officials  to  see 
that  the  Chinese  did  not  interfere  in  any  way, 
so  as  not  to  give  any  excuse  for  being  brought 
into  the  trouble. 

She  then  asked  his  opinion  as  to  what  would 
be  the  result  in  the  event  of  war — who  would 
win.  He  said  that  it  was  very  hard  to  say,  but 
that  he  thought  Japan  would  win.  Her  Majesty 
thought  that  if  Japan  were  victorious,  she  would 
not  have  so  much  trouble  over  the  matter, 
although  she  expressed  doubts  as  to  the  outcome, 
saying  that  Russia  was  a large  country  and  had 
many  soldiers,  and  that  the  result  was  far  from 
certain. 

Her  Majesty  then  spoke  about  the  condition 
of  things  in  China.  She  said  that  in  case  China 
were  forced  into  war  with  another  nation,  we 
should  be  nowhere.  We  had  nothing  ready,  no 
navy  and  no  trained  army,  in  fact  nothing  to 
enable  us  to  protect  ourselves.  Yuan  Shih  Kai, 
however,  assured  her  there  was  no  need  to  antici- 
pate any  trouble  at  present  so  far  as  China  was 
concerned.  Her  Majesty  replied  that  in  any 
event  it  was  time  China  began  to  wake  up  and 
endeavor  to  straighten  things  out  in  some  way 


324  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


or  other,  but  she  did  not  knoAV  where  to  begin; 
that  it  was  her  ambition  to  see  China  holding  a 
prominent  position  among  the  nations  of  the 
world  and  that  she  was  constantly  receiving 
'memorials  suggesting  this  reform  and  that 
reform,  but  that  we  never  seemed  to  get  any 
further. 

After  this  audience  was  over,  Her  Majesty 
held  an  audience  with  the  Grand  Council.  She 
told  them  what  had  been  said  during  her  inter- 
view with  Yuan  Shill  Kai,  and  of  course  they  all 
agreed  that  something  should  be  done.  Several 
suggestions  were  discussed  with  regard  to  na- 
tional defense,  etc.,  but  a certain  Prince  said 
that  although  he  was  in  perfect  sympathy  with 
reform  generally,  he  was  very  much  against  the 
adoption  of  foreign  clothing,  foreign  modes  of 
living,  and  the  doing  away  with  the  queue.  Her 
Majesty  quite  agreed  with  these  remarks  and 
said  that  it  would  not  be  wise  to  change  any 
Chinese  custom  for  one  which  was  less  civilized. 
As  usual,  nothing  definite  was  decided  upon 
when  the  audience  was  over. 

For  the  next  few  days  nothing  was  talked  of 
but  the  war,  and  many  Chinese  generals  were 
received  in  audience  by  Her  Majesty.  These 
audiences  were  sometimes  very  amusing,  as  these 
soldiers  were  quite  unaccustomed  to  the  rules  of 
the  Court  and  did  not  know  the  mode  of  pro- 


THE  AUDIENCE  HALL 


325 


cedure  when  in  the  presence  of  Her  Majesty. 
Many  foolish  suggestions  were  made  by  these 
generals.  During  one  of  the  conversations  Her 
Majesty  remarked  on  the  inefficiency  of  the 
navy  and  referred  to  the  fact  that  we  had  no 
trained  naval  officers.  One  of  the  generals 
replied  that  we  had  more  men  in  China  than  in 
any  other  country,  and  as  for  ships,  why  we  had 
dozens  of  river  boats  and  China  merchant  boats, 
which  could  be  used  in  case  of  war.  Her 
Majesty  ordered  him  to  retire,  saying  that  it  was 
perfectly  true  that  we  had  plenty  of  men  in 
China,  but  that  the  majority  of  them  were  like 
himself,  of  very  little  use  to  the  country.  After 
he  had  retired,  everybody  commenced  to  laugh, 
but  Her  Majesty  stopped  us,  saying  that  she  did 
not  feel  at  all  like  laughing,  she  was  too  angry 
to  think  that  such  men  held  positions  as  officers 
in  the  army  and  navy.  One  of  the  Court  ladies 
asked  me  why  Her  Majesty  was  so  angry  with 
the  man  for  mentioning  the  river  boats,  and  was 
very  much  surprised  when  I informed  her  that 
the  whole  of  them  would  be  worse  than  useless 
against  a single  war  vessel. 

J ust  about  the  end  of  the  eleventh  moon 
Chang  Chih  Tung,  Viceroy  of  Wuchang, 
arrived,  and  was  received  in  audience.  Her 
Majesty  said  to  him:  “Now,  you  are  one  of  the 
oldest  officials  in  the  country,  and  I want  you 


326  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


to  give  me  your  unbiased  opinion  as  to  what 
effect  this  war  is  going  to  have  on  China.  Do 
not  be  afraid  to  give  your  firm  opinion,  as  I want 
to  be  prepared  for  anything  which  is  likely  to 
happen.”  He  answered  that  no  matter  what  the 
result  of  the  war  might  be,  China  would  in  all 
probability  have  to  make  certain  concessions  to 
the  Powers  with  regard  to  Manchuria  for  trade 
purposes,  but  that  we  should  not  otherwise  be 
interfered  with.  Her  Majesty  repeated  what 
had  been  discussed  at  the  previous  audiences  on 
this  subject  and  also  regarding  reform  in  China. 
Chang  Chih  Tung  replied  that  we  had  plenty 
of  time  for  reform,  and  that  if  we  were  in  too 
great  a hurry,  we  should  not  accomplish  any- 
thing at  all.  He  suggested  that  the  matter  be 
discussed  at  length  before  deciding  upon  any- 
thing definite.  In  his  opinion  it  would  be  fool- 
ish to  go  to  extremes  in  the  matter  of  reform. 
He  said  that  ten  or  fifteen  years  ago  he  would 
have  been  very  much  against  any  reform  what- 
soever, but  that  he  now  saw  the  need  for  it  to 
a certain  extent,  as  circumstances  had  changed 
very  much.  He  said  that  we  should  adhere 
strictly  to  our  own  mode  of  living  and  not  aban- 
don the  traditions  of  our  ancestors.  In  other 
words,  lie  simply  advised  the  adoption  of  western 
civilization  where  it  was  an  improvement  on  our 
own,  and  nothing  more.  Her  Majesty  was 


THE  AUDIENCE  HALL 


327 


delighted  with  the  interview,  for  Chang  Chih 
Tung’s  opinions  coincided  exactly  with  her  own. 

During  the  whole  of  these  audiences  the 
Emperor,  although  present  each  time,  never 
opened  his  lips  to  say  a word,  but  sat  listening 
all  the  time.  As  a rule,  Her  Majesty  would  ask 
his  opinion,  just  as  a matter  of  form,  but  he 
invariably  replied  that  he  was  quite  in  accord 
with  what  Her  Majesty  had  said  or  decided  upon. 

Of  the  many  religious  ceremonies  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Buddhist  religion  the  “La-pa- 
chow”  was  the  most  important.  This  was  held 
on  the  8th  day  of  the  twelfth  moon  each  year. 
According  to  the  common  belief,  on  this  eighth 
day  of  the  twelfth  moon,  many  centuries  ago, 
a certain  Buddhist  priest  Ju  Lai  set  out  to  beg 
for  food,  and  after  receiving  a good  supply  of 
rice  and  beans  from  the  people,  he  returned  and 
divided  it  with  his  brother  priests,  giving  each 
an  equal  share,  and  he  became  celebrated  for  his 
great  charity.  This  day  was  therefore  set  apart 
as  an  anniversary  to  commemorate  the  event. 
The  idea  was  that  by  practising  self-denial  on 
this  day,  one  would  gain  favor  in  the  sight  of 
this  Buddha  Ju  Lai,  therefore  the  only  food 
eaten  was  rice,  grain  and  beans,  all  mixed  to- 
gether in  a sort  of  porridge,  but  without  any  salt 
or  other  flavoring.  It  was  not  at  all  pleasant 
to  eat,  being  absolutely  tasteless. 


CHAPTER  EIGHTEEN 


THE  NEW  YEAR  FESTIVALS 

We  now  reached  the  time  set  apart  for  clean- 
ing the  Palace  in  preparation  for  the  New  Year 
festivals.  Everything  had  to  he  taken  down  and 
thoroughly  overhauled,  and  all  the  images,  pic- 
tures, furniture  and  everything  else  were  sub- 
jected to  a thorough  scrubbing.  Her  Majesty 
again  consulted  her  book  in  order  to  choose  a 
lucky  day  on  which  to  commence  these  opera- 
tions, finally  choosing  the  twelfth  day  as  being 
most  favorable.  As  we  had  all  received  our 
orders  previously,  we  commenced  early  on  the 
morning  of  the  twelfth.  Several  of  the  Court 
ladies  were  told  off  to  take  down  and  clean  the 
images  of  Buddha  and  prepare  new  curtains  for 
them.  The  rest  of  the  cleaning  was  done  by  the 
eunuchs.  I asked  Her  Majesty  whether  I was 
to  clean  her  jewelry,  but  she  answered  that  as 
nobody  but  herself  ever  wore  it,  it  didn’t  need 
cleaning. 

After  everything  had  been  cleaned  to  Her 
Majesty’s  satisfaction,  she  prepared  a list  of 
names  of  the  people  she  desired  to  attend  the 

328 


THE  NEW  YEAR  FESTIVALS 


329 


ceremony  of  Tzu  Sui.  This  ceremony  was  held 
on  the  last  day  of  each  year  and  was  something 
like  the  midnight  sendees  usually  held  in  Eu- 
rope on  the  last  night  of  each  old  year — just  a 
farewell  ceremony  to  bid  the  old  year  adieu. 
The  guests  were  invited  about  a fortnight  ahead, 
so  as  to  give  them  plenty  of  time  to  get  ready. 
Her  Majesty  also  ordered  new  winter  clothing 
for  the  Court  ladies.  The  only  difference 
between  these  new  garments  and  those  we  were 
then  wearing  was  that  they  were  trimmed  with 
the  fur  of  the  silver  fox  instead  of  the  gray 
squirrel. 

The  next  thing  was  to  prepare  cakes,  which 
were  to  be  placed  before  the  Buddhas  and  ances- 
tors, during  the  New  Year.  It  was  necessary 
that  Her  Majesty  should  make  the  first  one  her- 
self. So  when  Her  Majesty  decided  that  it  was 
time  to  prepare  these  cakes  the  whole  Court  went 
into  a room  specially  prepared  for  the  purpose 
and  the  eunuchs  brought  in  the  ingredients — 
ground  rice,  sugar  and  yeast.  These  were 
mixed  together  into  a sort  of  dough  and  then 
steamed  instead  of  baked,  which  caused  it  to  rise 
just  like  ordinary  bread,  it  being  believed  that 
the  higher  the  cake  rises,  the  better  pleased  are 
the  gods  and  the  more  fortunate  the  maker. 
The  first  cake  turned  out  fine  and  we  all  con- 
gratulated Her  Majesty,  who  was  evidently 


330  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


much  pleased  herself  at  the  result.  Then  she 
ordered  each  of  the  Court  ladies  to  make  one, 
which  we  did,  with  disastrous  results,  not  one 
turning  out  as  it  should.  This  being  my  first 
year,  there  was  some  excuse  for  my  failure,  but 
I was  surprised  that  none  of  the  older  Court 
ladies  fared  any  better,  and  on  inquiring  from 
one  of  them  the  reason,  she  replied:  “Why,  I 
did  it  purposely,  of  course,  so  as  to  flatter  Her 
Majesty’s  vanity.  Certainly  I could  make  them 
just  as  well  as  she,  if  not  better,  but  it  would  not 
be  good  policy.”  After  we  had  all  finished  mak- 
ing our  cakes,  the  eunuchs  were  ordered  to  make 
the  rest,  and  needless  to  say  they  were  perfect 
in  every  way. 

The  next  thing  was  to  prepare  small  plates  of 
dates  and  fresh  fruits  of  every  kind.  These  were 
decorated  with  evergreens,  etc.,  and  placed  before 
the  images  of  Buddha.  Then  we  prepared  glass 
dishes  of  candy,  which  were  to  be  offered  to  the 
God  of  the  Kitchen.  On  the  twenty-third  day 
of  the  last  moon  the  God  of  the  Kitchen  left  this 
earth  to  go  on  a visit  to  the  King  of  Heaven,  to 
whom  he  reported  all  that  we  had  been  doing  dur- 
ing the  past  year,  returning  to  earth  again  on  the 
last  day  of  the  year.  The  idea  of  offering  him 
these  sweets  was  in  order  that  they  should  stick 
to  his  mouth  and  prevent  him  from  telling  too 
much.  When  these  candies  were  prepared,  we 


THE  NEW  YEAR  FESTIVALS 


331 


all  adjourned  to  the  kitchen  and  placed  the  offer- 
ing on  a table  specially  placed  for  the  purpose. 
Turning  to  the  head  cook,  she  said:  “You  had 
better  look  out  now ; the  God  of  the  Kitchen  will 
tell  how  much  you  have  stolen  during  the  past 
year,  and  you  will  be  punished.” 

The  following  day  another  ceremony  had  to 
be  gone  through,  that  of  writing  out  the  New 
Year  Greetings  for  the  guests  and  Court,  so  in 
the  morning  we  all  went  with  Her  Majesty  to 
the  Audience  Hall,  where  the  eunuchs  had  pre- 
pared large  sheets  of  yellow,  red  and  pale  green 
paper.  Her  Majesty  took  up  a large  brush  and 
commenced  to  write.  On  some  of  these  sheets 
she  wrote  the  character  “Shou”  (Long  Life)  and 
on  others  “Fu”  (Prosperity) . By  and  bye,  when 
she  began  to  feel  tired,  she  would  get  either  one 
of  the  Court  ladies  or  one  of  the  official  writers 
to  finish  them  for  her.  When  finished,  they  were 
distributed  to  the  guests  and  different  officials, 
the  ones  Her  Majesty  had  written  herself  being 
reserved  for  her  special  favorites.  These  were 
given  out  a few  days  before  the  New  Year. 

Her  Majesty  received  New  Year  presents 
from  all  the  Viceroys  and  principal  officials. 
She  would  examine  each  present  as  it  was  re- 
ceived, and  if  it  found  favor  in  her  eyes,  she 
would  use  it,  but  if  not,  she  would  have  it  locked 
away  in  one  of  the  storerooms  and  probably  never 


332  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


see  it  again.  These  presents  consisted  of  small 
pieces  of  furniture,  curios,  jewelry,  silks,  in  fact 
everything — even  clothing.  The  present  sent  by 
Viceroy  Yuan  Shih  Ivai  was  a yellow  satin 
robe,  embroidered  with  different  colored  precious 
stones  and  pearls  designed  to  represent  the  peony 
flower;  the  leaves  were  of  green  jade.  It  was 
really  a magnificent  thing,  and  must  have  cost 
a fortune.  The  only  drawback  was  its  weight; 
it  was  too  heavy  to  wear  comfortably.  Her 
Majesty  appeared  delighted  with  this  gown,  and 
wore  it  the  first  day,  after  which  it  was  discarded 
altogether,  although  I often  suggested  that  she 
should  wear  it,  as  it  was  the  most  magnificent 
gowm  I ever  saw.  Once  when  Her  Majesty  was 
granting  an  audience  to  the  Diplomatic  Corps, 
I suggested  that  she  should  wear  this  dress,  but 
she  refused,  giving  no  reason,  so  nobody  outside 
the  Court  has  ever  seen  this  wonderful  garment. 

Another  costly  present  was  received  from  the 
Viceroy  of  Canton,  and  consisted  of  four  bags 
of  pearls,  each  bag  containing  several  thousands. 
They  were  all  perfect  in  shape  and  color,  and 
would  have  brought  fabulous  prices  in  Europe 
or  America.  However,  Her  Majesty  had  so 
many  jewels,  especially  pearls,  that  she  hardly 
paid  any  attention  to  them  beyond  remarking 
that  they  were  very  nice. 

The  Young  Empress  and  the  Court  ladies 


THE  NEW  YEAR  FESTIVALS 


333 


were  also  expected  to  give  presents  to  Her  Maj- 
esty each  New  Year.  These  were  for  the  most 
part  articles  that  we  had  made  ourselves,  such 
as  shoes,  handkerchiefs,  collars,  bags,  etc.  My 
mother,  my  sister  and  myself  made  presents  of 
mirrors,  perfumes,  soaps  and  similar  toilet  acces- 
sories which  we  had  brought  with  us  from  Paris. 
These  Her  Majesty  appreciated  very  much;  she 
was  very  vain.  The  eunuchs  and  servant  girls 
gave  fancy  cakes  and  other  food  stuffs. 

The  presents  were  so  numerous  that  they  filled 
several  rooms,  but  we  were  not  allowed  to  remove 
them  until  Her  Majesty  gave  orders  to  do  so. 

The  Court  ladies  also  exchanged  presents 
among  themselves,  which  often  led  to  confusion 
and  amusement.  On  this  occasion  I had  received 
some  ten  or  a dozen  different  presents,  and  when 
it  came  my  turn  to  give  something,  I decided 
to  use  up  some  of  the  presents  I had  received 
from  my  companions.  To  my  surprise,  the  next 
day  I received  from  one  of  the  Court  ladies  an 
embroidered  handkerchief  which  I immediately 
recognized  as  the  identical  handkerchief  I had 
myself  sent  her  as  my  New  Year’s  present.  On 
mentioning  the  fact,  this  lady  turned  and  said: 
“Well,  that  is  rather  funny;  I was  just  won- 
dering Avhat  had  made  you  return  the  shoes  I 
sent  you.”  Of  course  everybody  laughed  very 
heartily,  and  still  further  merriment  was  caused 


334-  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


when,  on  comparing  all  the  presents,  it  was 
found  that  quite  half  of  us  had  received  back 
our  own  presents.  In  order  to  settle  the  matter, 
we  threw  them  all  into  a heap  and  divided  them 
as  evenly  as  possible,  everybody  being  satisfied 
with  the  result. 

About  a week  before  New  Year’s  day  all  au- 
diences ceased  and  the  seals  were  put  away 
until  after  the  holidays.  During  this  time  no 
business  was  transacted  by  Her  Majesty. 
Everything  was  much  more  comfortable  and  we 
could  see  that  Her  Majesty  also  appreciated  the 
change  from  bustle  to  quietness.  We  had  noth- 
ing whatever  to  do  but  to  take  things  easy  until 
the  last  day  of  the  year. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  thirtieth  Her 
Majesty  wTent  to  worship  before  the  Buddhas 
and  Ancestral  Tablets.  After  this  ceremony 
was  finished,  the  guests  began  to  arrive,  until 
by  midday,  all  the  guests,  numbering  about  fifty, 
were  present.  The  principal  guests  were:  The 
Imperial  Princess  (Empress  Dowager’s  adopted 
daughter),  Princess  Chung  (wife  of  Emperor 
Kwang  Hsu’s  brother) , Princesses  Shun  and  Tao 
(wives  of  the  Emperor’s  younger  brothers), 
Princess  Kung  (wife  of  the  nephew  of  the 
Imperial  Princess),  and  Prince  Ching’s  family. 
All  these  ladies  were  frequent  visitors  to  the 
Court.  Next  day  many  other  Princesses,  not  of 


THE  NEW  YEAR  FESTIVALS 


335 


the  Imperial  family,  but  whose  titles  were  hon- 
orary titles  bestowed  by  previous  rulers,  came. 
Next,  the  daughters  of  the  high  Manchu  officials 
and  many  other  people  whom  I had  never  seen 
before.  By  midday  all  the  guests  had  arrived, 
and,  after  being  presented  to  Her  Majesty,  were 
taken  to  their  different  apartments  and  told  to 
rest  a while.  At  two  o’clock  in  the  afternoon 
everybody  assembled  in  the  Audience  Hall,  lined 
up  according  to  their  different  ranks  and,  led 
by  the  Young  Empress,  kowtowed  to  Her 
Majesty.  This  was  the  ceremony  Tzu  Sui 
already  referred  to,  and  was  simply  a last  good- 
bye to  Her  Majesty  before  the  New  Year  set 
in.  When  it  was  all  over,  Her  Majesty  gave 
each  of  us  a small  purse  made  of  red  satin 
embroidered  with  gold,  containing  a sum  of 
money.  This  is  to  enable  each  one  to  commence 
the  New  Year  with  a kind  of  reserve  fund  for 
a rainy  day,  when  they  would  have  this  money 
to  fall  back  upon.  It  is  an  old  Manchu  custom 
and  is  still  kept  up. 

The  evening  was  spent  in  music  and  enjoy- 
ment, and  was  carried  on  right  through  the 
night,  none  of  us  going  to  bed.  At  Her 
Majesty’s  suggestion  we  commenced  gambling 
with  dice,  Her  Majesty  providing  each  of  us 
with  money,  sometimes  as  much  as  $200.  She 
told  us  to  be  serious  about  it,  and  to  try  and 


33 6 TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


win,  but  of  course  we  took  good  care  not  to 
win  from  Her  Majesty.  When  Her  Majesty 
began  to  tire,  she  stopped  the  game  and  said: 
“Now,  all  this  money  I have  wTon  I am  going 
to  throw  on  the  floor,  and  you  girls  can  scramble 
for  it.”  We  knew  that  she  wanted  to  see  some 
fun,  so  we  fought  for  it  as  hard  as  we  could. 

At  midnight  the  eunuchs  brought  into  the 
room  a large  brass  brazier  containing  live  char- 
coal. Her  Majesty  pulled  a leaf  from  a large 
evergreen  tree,  which  had  been  placed  there  for 
the  purpose,  and  threw  it  into  the  fire.  We  each 
followed  her  example,  adding  large  pieces  of 
resin,  which  perfumed  the  whole  atmosphere. 
This  ceremony  was  supposed  to  bring  good  luck 
during  the  coming  year. 

The  next  item  was  making  cakes  or  pies  for 
New  Year’s  day.  On  the  first  of  the  New  Year, 
nobody  is  allowed  to  eat  rice,  these  cakes  taking 
its  place.  They  were  made  of  flour  paste,  with 
minced  meat  inside.  While  some  of  us  were  pre- 
paring these  cakes,  others  were  peeling  lotus 
seeds  for  Her  Majesty’s  breakfast. 

It  was  now  well  on  into  the  morning  hours 
and  Her  Majesty  said  that  she  was  tired  and 
would  go  and  rest  a while.  She  was  not  going 
to  sleep,  however,  so  we  could  carry  on  our  noise 
as  much  as  we  liked.  This  we  did  for  some  time, 
and  on  visiting  Her  Majesty’s  bedroom,  we 


THE  NEW  YEAR  FESTIVALS 


337 


found  that  she  was  fast  asleep.  We  then  all 
repaired  to  our  various  rooms  and  commenced 
to  make  ourselves  tidy  for  the  day.  As  soon 
as  Her  Majesty  was  awake,  we  all  proceeded 
to  her  bedroom,  taking  with  us  plates  of  apples 
(representing  “Peace”),  olives  (“Long  Life”), 
lotus  seeds  (Blessing).  She  suitably  acknowl- 
edged these  gifts  and  wished  us  all  good  luck 
in  return.  She  inquired  whether  we  had  been 
to  bed  and,  on  learning  that  we  had  been  up  all 
night,  she  said  that  was  right.  She  herself  had 
not  meant  to  sleep,  only  to  rest  a little,  but  some- 
how she  had  not  been  able  to  keep  awake,  and 
gave  as  a reason  that  she  was  an  old  woman. 
We  waited  on  her  until  she  had  finished  her  toilet 
and  then  wished  her  a Happy  New  Year.  We 
then  proceeded  to  pay  our  respects  to  the  Em- 
peror and  to  the  Young  Empress.  There  was 
nothing  further  to  be  done  in  the  way  of  cere- 
monies, and  we  therefore  all  accompanied  Her 
Majesty  to  the  theatre.  The  performance  took 
place  on  a stage  erected  in  the  courtyard,  and  Her 
Majesty  closed  in  one  part  of  her  veranda  for 
the  use  of  the  guests  and  Court  ladies.  During 
the  performance  I began  to  feel  very  drowsy, 
and  eventually  fell  fast  asleep  leaning  against 
one  of  the  pillars.  I awoke  rather  suddenly  to 
find  that  something  had  been  dropped  into  my 
mouth,  but  on  investigation  I found  it  was  noth- 


338  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


ing  worse  than  a piece  of  candy,  which  I imme- 
diately proceeded  to  eat.  On  approaching  Her 
Majesty,  she  asked  me  how  I had  enjoyed  the 
candy,  and  told  me  not  to  sleep,  but  to  have  a 
good  time  like  the  rest.  I never  saw  Her 
Majesty  in  better  humor.  She  played  with  us 
just  like  a young  girl,  and  one  could  hardly  rec- 
ognize in  her  the  severe  Empress  Dowager  we 
knew  her  to  be. 

The  guests  also  all  seemed  to  be  enjoying 
themselves  very  much.  In  the  evening,  after  the 
theatrical  performance  was  over,  Her  Majesty 
ordered  the  eunuchs  to  bring  in  their  instruments 
and  give  us  some  music.  She  herself  sang  sev- 
eral songs,  and  we  all  sang  at  intervals.  Then 
Her  Majesty  ordered  the  eunuchs  to  sing. 
Some  were  trained  singers,  and  sang  very  nicely, 
but  others  could  not  sing  at  all  and  caused  quite 
a lot  of  amusement  by  their  efforts  to  please  Her 
Majesty.  The  Emperor  appeared  to  be  the 
only  one  present  who  was  not  having  a good 
time;  he  never  smiled  once.  On  meeting  him 
outside,  I asked  him  why  he  looked  so  sad,  but 
he  only  answered:  “A  Happy  New  Year”  in 
English,  smiled  once,  and  walked  away. 

Her  Majesty  rose  very  early  next  morning 
and  proceeded  to  the  Audience  Hall  to  worship 
the  God  of  Wealth.  We  all  accompanied  her 
and  took  part  in  the  ceremony.  During  the 


THE  NEW  YEAR  FESTIVALS 


389 


next  few  days  we  did  nothing  but  gamble  and 
scramble  for  Her  Majesty’s  winnings.  This 
was  all  very  nice  in  its  way,  until  one  day  one 
of  the  Court  ladies  began  to  cry,  and  accused  me 
of  stepping  on  her  toes  in  the  scramble.  This 
made  Her  Majesty  angry  and  she  ordered  the 
offender  to  go  to  her  room  and  stay  there  for 
three  days,  saying  that  she  did  not  deserve  to 
be  enjoying  herself  if  she  could  not  stand  a little 
thing  like  that. 

The  tenth  of  the  first  moon  was  the  birthday 
of  the  Young  Empress,  and  we  asked  Her  Maj- 
esty whether  we  would  be  allowed  to  give  pres- 
ents. She  gave  us  permission  to  give  whatever 
presents  we  might  wish  to.  However,  we  sub- 
mitted all  our  presents  to  Her  Majesty  for  her 
approval,  before  giving  them  to  the  Young  Em- 
press, and  we  had  to  be  very  discreet  and  not 
choose  anything  which  Her  Majesty  might  think 
was  too  good.  It  was  very  difficult  to  tell  what 
to  send,  as  Her  Majesty  might  take  a fancy  to 
any  of  the  presents  herself,  even  though  they 
might  not  be  of  much  value  intrinsically.  In 
such  a case  Her  Majesty  would  tell  us  that  she 
would  keep  it,  and  to  give  the  Young  Empress 
something  else. 

The  celebration  was  very  similar  to  that  of  the 
Emperor’s  birthday,  but  not  on  such  an  elabo- 
rate scale.  We  presented  the  Ru  Yee  to  the 


340  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


Young  Empress  and  kowtowed  to  her.  She 
was  supposed  to  receive  these  tokens  of  respect 
sitting  on  her  throne,  but  out  of  deference  to 
Her  Majesty  (we  were  Her  Majesty’s  Court  la- 
dies) she  stood  up.  She  always  was  very  polite 
to  us  under  all  circumstances. 

On  this  day,  as  on  the  Emperor’s  birthday, 
the  Emperor,  Young  Empress  and  Secondary 
wife  dined  together.  These  were  the  only  two 
occasions  when  they  did  so,  always  dining  sep- 
arately at  other  times.  Her  Majesty  sent  two 
of  her  Court  ladies  to  wait  upon  the  Empress,  I 
myself  being  one  of  them.  I was  very  pleased, 
as  I wanted  to  see  for  myself  how  they  conducted 
themselves  when  together.  I went  into  the 
Young  Empress’  room  and  informed  her  that 
Her  Majesty  had  ordered  us  to  wait  upon  them, 
to  which  she  simply  answered:  “Very  well.”  So 
we  went  to  the  dining  room  and  set  the  table, 
placing  the  chairs  into  position.  The  meal  was 
much  different  from  what  I expected.  Instead 
of  being  stiff  and  serious  like  Her  Majesty  when 
dining  they  were  quite  free  and  easy,  and  we 
were  allowed  to  join  in  the  conversation  and  par- 
take of  some  of  the  food  and  wine.  A very  pretty 
ceremony  was  gone  through  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  meal.  The  Emperor  and  Young 
Empress  seated  themselves,  and  the  Secondary 
wife  filled  their  cups  with  wine  and  presented  it 


Flag  Carriers  in  the  Funeral 


THE  NEW  YEAR  FESTIVALS 


341 


to  them  in  turn  as  a sign  of  respect,  the  Em- 
peror first.  When  the  meal  was  over  we  re- 
turned to  Her  Majesty’s  apartment  and  told 
her  that  everything  had  passed  off  nicely.  We 
knew  very  well  that  we  had  been  sent  simply 
to  act  as  spies,  but  we  had  nothing  interesting 
to  tell  Her  Majesty.  She  asked  if  the  Emperor 
had  been  very  serious  and  we  answered  “Yes.” 

The  New  Year  celebrations  terminated  with 
the  Festival  of  Lanterns  on  the  fifteenth  day  of 
the  first  moon.  These  lanterns  were  of  differ- 
ent shapes,  representing  animals,  flowers,  fruits, 
etc.,  etc.  They  were  made  of  white  gauze, 
painted  in  different  colors.  One  lantern  repre- 
senting a dragon  about  fifteen  feet  long  was 
fastened  to  ten  poles,  and  ten  eunuchs  were  re- 
quired to  hold  it  in  position.  In  front  of  this 
dragon  a eunuch  was  holding  a lantern  repre- 
senting a large  pearl,  which  the  dragon  was 
supposed  to  devour.  This  ceremony  was  gone 
through  to  the  accompaniment  of  music. 

After  the  lanterns  came  a firework  display. 
These  fireworks  represented  different  scenes  in 
the  history  of  China,  grape  vines,  wisteria  blos- 
soms, and  many  other  flowers.  It  was  a very 
imposing  sight.  Portable  wooden  houses  had 
been  placed  near  the  fireworks  from  which  Her 
Majesty  and  the  rest  of  the  Court  could  see  them 
without  being  out  in  the  cold  air.  This  display 


342  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


lasted  for  several  hours  without  a stop,  and  thou- 
sands of  firecrackers  were  set  off  during  the 
time.  Her  Majesty  seemed  to  enjoy  the  noise 
very  much.  Altogether  it  was  a good  finish  to 
the  celebrations  and  we  all  enjoyed  it  very  much. 

The  next  morning  all  the  guests  departed 
from  the  Palace  and  we  re-commenced  our  ev- 
eryday life. 

As  usual  after  the  guests  had  departed  Her 
Majesty  began  to  criticise  their  mode  of  dress- 
ing, their  ignorance  of  Court  etiquette,  etc.,  but 
added  that  she  was  rather  glad,  as  she  didn’t  want 
them  to  know  anything  about  Court  life. 

As  Spring  soon  arrived  it  was  time  for  the 
farmers  to  commence  sowing  seed  for  the  rice 
crop,  and  of  course  there  was  another  ceremony. 
The  Emperor  visited  the  Temple  of  Agriculture 
where  he  prayed  for  a good  harvest.  Then  he 
proceeded  to  a small  plot  of  ground  situated  in 
the  temple  and  after  turning  the  earth  over  with 
a hand  plow  he  sowed  the  first  seeds  of  the 
season.  This  was  to  show  the  farmers  that  their 
labors  were  not  despised  and  that  even  the  Em- 
peror was  not  ashamed  to  engage  in  this  work. 
Anybody  could  attend  this  ceremony,  it  being 
quite  a public  affair,  and  many  farmers  were 
present. 

About  this  same  time  the  Young  Empress 
went  to  see  the  silkworms  and  watch  for  the  eggs 


THE  NEW  YEAR  FESTIVALS 


343 


to  be  hatched.  As  soon  as  they  were  out,  the 
Young  Empress  gathered  mulberry  leaves  for 
the  worms  to  feed  upon  and  watched  them  until 
they  were  big  enough  to  commence  spinning. 
Each  day  a fresh  supply  of  leaves  were  gathered 
and  they  were  fed  four  or  five  times  daily.  Sev- 
eral of  the  Court  ladies  were  told  off  to  feed  the 
worms  during  the  night  and  see  that  they  did  not 
escape.  These  silkworms  grow  very  rapidly  and 
we  could  see  the  difference  each  day.  Of  course 
when  they  became  full  grown  they  required  more 
food  and  we  were  kept  busy  constantly  feeding 
them.  The  Young  Empress  was  able  to  tell  by 
holding  them  up  to  the  light  when  they  were  ready 
to  spin.  If  they  were  transparent  then  they 
were  ready,  and  were  placed  on  paper  and 
left  there.  When  spinnning  the  silkworm  does 
not  eat,  therefore  all  we  had  to  do  was  to  watch 
that  they  did  not  get  away.  After  spinning  for 
four  or  five  days  their  supply  of  silk  becomes  ex- 
hausted and  they  shrivel  up  and  apparently  die. 
These  apparently  dead  worms  were  collected  by 
the  Young  Empress  and  placed  in  a box  where 
they  were  kept  until  they  developed  into  moths. 
They  were  then  placed  on  thick  paper  and  left 
there  to  lay  their  eggs. 

If  left  to  themselves,  the  silkworms  when 
ready  for  spinning  will  spin  the  silk  around  their 
bodies  until  they  are  completely  covered  up, 


344  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


gradually  forming  a cocoon.  In  order  to  deter- 
mine when  they  have  finished  spinning  it  was 
customary  to  take  the  cocoon  and  rattle  it  near 
the  ear.  If  the  worm  was  exhausted  you  could 
plainly  hear  the  body  rattle  inside  the  cocoon. 
The  cocoon  is  then  placed  in  boiling  water  until 
it  becomes  soft.  This,  of  course,  kills  the  worm. 
In  order  to  separate  the  silk  a needle  is  used  to 
pick  up  the  end  of  the  thread  which  is  then  wound 
on  to  a spool  and  is  ready  for  weaving.  A few 
of  the  cocoons  were  kept  until  the  worms  had 
turned  into  moths,  which  soon  ate  their  way  out 
of  the  cocoons  when  they  were  placed  on  sheets 
of  paper  and  left  to  lay  their  eggs,  which  are 
taken  away  and  kept  in  a cool  place  until  the 
following  Spring,  when  the  eggs  are  hatched 
and  become  worms. 

When  the  silk  had  all  been  separated  we  took 
it  to  Her  Majesty  for  inspection  and  approval. 
On  this  particular  occasion  Her  Majesty  or- 
dered one  of  the  eunuchs  to  bring  in  some  silk 
which  she  herself  had  woven  when  a young  girl 
in  the  Palace,  and  on  comparing  it  with  the  new 
silk  it  was  found  to  be  just  as  good  in  every  way 
although  many  years  had  passed  since  it  was  made. 

All  this  was  done  with  the  same  object  as  the 
Emperor  sowing  the  seeds,  viz. : — to  set  the  peo- 
ple a good  example  and  to  encourage  them  in 
their  work. 


CHAPTER  NINETEEN 


THE  SEA  PALACE 

This  year  we  had  a very  hot  spring  and  Her 
Majesty  was  desirous  of  getting  back  again  to 
the  Sea  Palace.  However,  as  war  had  already 
been  declared  between  Russia  and  Japan  it  was 
thought  best  to  remain  in  the  Forbidden  City 
until  things  were  more  settled.  Her  Majesty 
was  very  much  worried  over  this  war  and  spent 
most  of  her  time  in  offering  prayers  to  the  dif- 
ferent divinities  for  the  welfare  of  China  and  we, 
of  course,  were  expected  to  join  her.  Things 
were  very  monotonous  about  this  time  and  noth- 
ing particular  occurred  until  the  beginning  of 
the  second  moon.  By  this  time  Her  Majesty 
was  quite  sick  of  staying  in  the  Forbidden  City 
and  said  that  no  matter  what  happened  she  would 
remove  the  Court  to  the  Sea  Palace,  where  Miss 
Carl  could  get  along  and  finish  the  portrait  which 
had  been  hanging  on  for  nearly  a year.  So  on 
the  sixth  day  of  the  second  moon  we  moved  back 
to  the  Sea  Palace.  Everything  looked  fresh  and 
green  and  many  of  the  trees  had  commenced  to 
blossom.  Her  Majesty  took  us  around  the  lake 

34-5 


346  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


and  we  were  in  such  good  spirits  that  Her  Maj- 
esty remarked  that  we  acted  more  like  a lot  of 
wild  animals  escaped  from  a menagerie  than 
human  beings.  She  was  much  brighter  now, 
hut  said  that  she  would  be  happier  still  to  get  to 
the  Summer  Palace. 

Miss  Carl  was  summoned  to  the  Palace,  and 
Her  Majesty  visited  her  and  asked  to  see  the 
portrait.  She  again  asked  me  how  long  it  would 
he  before  it  was  finished,  and  I told  her  that  un- 
less she  gave  a little  more  of  her  time  to  posing 
it  might  not  be  finished  for  quite  a long  time. 
After  a lot  of  consideration  Her  Majesty  finally 
agreed  to  give  Miss  Carl  five  minutes  each  day 
after  the  morning  audience,  but  that  she  desired 
it  to  be  distinctly  understood  that  she  did  not 
intend  to  pose  for  anything  but  the  face.  She 
accordingly  sat  for  two  mornings,  but  on  the 
third  morning  she  made  an  excuse  saying  that 
she  was  not  feeling  well.  I told  her  that  Miss 
Carl  could  not  proceed  further  unless  she  sat  for 
the  face,  so,  although  she  was  very  angry,  she 
gave  Miss  Carl  a few  more  sittings  until  the  face 
was  finished.  She  absolutely  refused  to  sit  again 
whether  it  was  finished  or  not,  saying  that  she 
would  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  the  portrait. 
I myself  sat  for  the  remainder  of  the  portrait, 
viz.: — for  Her  Majesty’s  dress,  jewels,  etc.,  and 
so  by  degrees  the  portrait  was  completed. 


THE  SEA  PALACE 


347 


When  Her  Majesty  learned  that  the  portrait 
was  nearing  completion  she  was  very  much 
pleased,  and  I thought  it  a good  opportunity  to 
again  broach  the  subject  of  payment.  Her 
Majesty  asked  me  whether  I really  thought  it 
necessary  to  pay  cash  for  the  portrait  and  how 
much.  I told  her  that  as  painting  was  Miss 
Carl’s  profession,  if  she  had  not  been  engaged  on 
painting  Her  Majesty’s  portrait  she  would  most 
probably  have  been  engaged  on  other  similar 
work  for  which  she  would  have  received  compen- 
sation, and  that  therefore  she  would  naturally 
expect  to  be  paid  even  more  handsomely  in  this 
instance.  It  was  difficult  to  make  Her  Majesty 
understand  this  and  she  asked  if  I was  quite  cer- 
tain that  Miss  Carl  would  not  be  offended  by  an 
offer  of  money,  also  Mrs.  Conger  who  had  pre- 
sented her.  I explained  that  in  America  and 
Europe  it  was  quite  customary  for  ladies  to 
earn  their  own  living  either  by  painting,  teach- 
ing or  in  some  other  similar  manner,  and 
that  it  was  no  disgrace  but  rather  the  opposite. 
Her  Majesty  seemed  very  much  surprised  to 
learn  this,  and  asked  why  Miss  Carl’s  brother 
did  not  support  her  himself.  I told  Her  Maj- 
esty that  Miss  Carl  did  not  desire  him  to  pro- 
vide for  her,  besides  which  he  was  married  and 
had  a family  to  support.  Her  Majesty  gave 
it  as  her  opinion  that  this  was  a funny  kind  of 


348  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


civilization.  In  China  when  the  parents  were 
dead  it  was  the  duty  of  the  sons  to  provide  for 
their  unmarried  sisters  until  such  time  as  they 
married.  She  also  said  that  if  Chinese  ladies 
were  to  work  for  their  living  it  would  only  set 
people  talking  about  them.  However,  she 
promised  to  speak  with  Her  Ministers  about 
paying  Miss  Carl,  and  I felt  somewhat  re- 
lieved as  there  seemed  to  be  a probability  of 
something  satisfactory  being  arranged  after 
all. 

The  twelfth  day  of  the  second  moon  was  the 
anniversary  of  another  interesting  ceremony, 
viz. : — the  birthday  of  the  flowers  and  trees. 
After  the  morning  audience  we  all  went  into  the 
Palace  grounds,  where  the  eunuchs  were  waiting 
with  huge  rolls  of  red  silk.  These  we  all  com- 
menced to  cut  into  narrow  strips  about  two 
inches  wide  and  three  feet  long.  When  we  had 
cut  sufficient  Her  Majesty  took  a strip  of  red 
silk  and  another  of  yellow  silk  which  she  tied 
round  the  stem  of  one  of  the  peony  trees  (in 
China  the  peony  is  considered  to  be  the  queen 
of  flowers).  Then  all  the  Court  ladies,  eunuchs 
and  servant  girls  set  to  work  to  decorate  every 
single  tree  and  plant  in  the  grounds  with  red  silk 
ribbons,  in  the  same  manner  as  Her  Majesty  had 
done.  This  took  up  nearly  the  entire  morning 
and  it  made  a very  pretty  picture,  with  the 


THE  SEA  PALACE 


319 


bright  costumes  of  the  Court  ladies,  green  trees 
and  beautiful  flowers. 

We  then  went  to  a theatrical  performance. 
This  represented  all  the  tree  fairies  and  flower 
fairies  celebrating  their  birthday.  The  Chinese 
believe  that  all  the  trees  and  flowers  have  their 
own  particular  fairies,  the  tree  fairies  being  men 
and  the  flower  fairies  being  women.  The  cos- 
tumes were  very  pretty  and  were  chosen  to  blend 
with  the  green  trees  and  flowers  which  were  on 
the  stage.  One  of  the  costumes  worn  by  a lotus 
fairy  was  made  of  pink  silk,  worked  so  as  to 
represent  the  petals  of  the  flower,  the  skirt  being 
of  green  silk  to  represent  the  lotus  leaves.  When- 
ever this  fairy  moved  about  the  petals  would 
move  just  as  though  wafted  by  the  breeze,  like 
a natural  flower.  Several  other  costumes  rep- 
resenting different  flowers  were  made  in  the 
same  manner.  The  scene  was  a woodland  dell, 
surrounded  with  huge  rocks  perforated  with 
caves,  out  of  which  came  innumerable  small 
fairies  bearing  decanters  of  wine.  These  small 
fairies  represented  the  smaller  flowers,  daisies, 
pomegranate  blossoms,  etc.  The  result  can  be 
better  imagined  than  described.  All  the  fairies 
gathered  together  and  drank  the  wine,  after 
which  they  commenced  to  sing,  accompanied  by 
stringed  instruments,  played  very  softly.  The 
final  scene  was  a very  fitting  ending  to  the  per- 


350  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


formance.  It  represented  a small  rainbow  which 
gradually  descended  until  it  rested  on  the  rocks; 
then  each  fairy  in  turn  would  sit  upon  the  rain- 
bow which  rose  again  and  conveyed  them 
through  the  clouds  into  Heaven.  This  com- 
pleted the  celebration  and  we  all  retired  to  our 
rooms. 

On  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  second  moon 
(March  2,  1904),  I completed  my  first  year 
at  Court.  I had  quite  forgotten  this  fact  until 
Her  Majesty  reminded  me  of  it.  She  asked 
whether  I was  comfortable  and  happy  where  I 
was  or  did  I long  to  return  to  Paris.  I answered 
truly  that  although  I had  enjoyed  myself  while 
in  France  still  I preferred  the  life  of  the  Court, 
it  was  so  interesting,  besides  which  I was  in  my 
own  native  land  and  among  all  my  friends  and 
relations,  and  naturally  I preferred  that  to  living 
in  a strange  land.  Her  Majesty  smiled  and  said 
she  was  afraid  that  sooner  or  later  I would  tire 
of  the  life  in  the  Palace  and  fly  away  again  across 
the  ocean.  She  said  that  the  only  way  to  make 
sure  of  me  was  to  marry  me  off.  She  again 
asked  me  what  was  my  objection  to  getting  mar- 
ried; was  I afraid  of  having  a mother-in-law,  or 
what  was  it?  If  that  was  all,  I need  not  worry, 
for  so  long  as  she  was  alive  there  was  nothing  to 
be  afraid  of.  Her  Majesty  said  that  even  if  I 
were  married  it  would  not  be  necessary  for  me  to 


THE  SEA  PALACE 


351 


stay  at  home  all  the  time,  but  that  I would  be 
able  to  spend  my  time  in  the  Palace  as  usual. 
Continuing,  she  said : “Last  year  when  this  mar- 
riage question  came  up  I was  willing  to  make  al- 
lowances as  you  had  been  brought  up  somewhat 
differently  from  the  rest  of  my  Court  ladies,  but 
do  not  run  away  with  the  idea  that  I have  for- 
gotten all  about  it.  I am  still  on  the  lookout 
for  a suitable  husband  for  you.”  I simply  an- 
swered as  before — that  I had  absolutely  no  de- 
sire to  marry,  but  that  I wanted  to  stay  where 
I was  and  live  at  the  Court  so  long  as  Her  Maj- 
esty was  willing  to  have  me  there.  She  made 
some  remark  about  my  being  stubborn  and  said 
that  I should  probably  change  my  mind  before 
long. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  second  moon 
Miss  Carl  worked  very  hard  to  get  the  portrait 
finished  and  Her  Majesty  again  consulted  her 
book  in  order  to  select  a lucky  day  on  which  to 
put  the  final  touches  to  the  picture.  The  19th 
of  April,  1904,  was  chosen  by  Her  Majesty  as 
the  best  time,  and  Miss  Carl  was  duly  notified. 
Miss  Carl  most  emphatically  stated  that  it  was 
quite  impossible  to  finish  the  portrait  properly 
by  the  time  named,  and  I told  Her  Majesty  what 
Miss  Carl  said,  explaining  that  there  were  many 
small  finishing  touches  to  be  added  and  I sug- 
gested it  would  be  better  to  give  Miss  Carl  a few 


352  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


days  longer  if  possible.  However,  Her  Majesty 
said  that  it  must  be  finished  by  four  o’clock  on 
the  19th  day  of  April,  and  therefore  there  was 
nothing  further  to  be  said. 

About  a week  before  the  time  fixed  for  com- 
pletion Her  Majesty  paid  a visit  to  the  studio 
to  finally  inspect  the  picture.  She  seemed  very 
much  pleased  with  it,  but  still  objected  to  her  face 
being  painted  dark  on  one  side  and  light  on  the 
other.  As  I have  said  before,  I had  explained 
that  this  was  the  shading,  but  Her  Majesty  in- 
sisted on  my  telling  Miss  Carl  to  make  both  sides 
of  her  face  alike.  This  led  to  a pretty  hot  discus- 
sion between  Miss  Carl  and  myself  but  she  finally 
saw  that  it  was  no  use  going  against  Her  Maj- 
esty’s wishes  in  the  matter,  so  consented  to  make 
some  slight  alteration.  Happening  to  catch 
sight  of  some  foreign  characters  at  the  foot  of 
the  painting  Her  Majesty  inquired  what  they 
were  and  on  being  informed  that  they  wTere  sim- 
ply the  artist’s  name,  said:  “Well,  I know  for- 
eigners do  some  funny  things,  but  I think  this 
about  the  funniest  I ever  heard  of.  Fancy  put- 
ting her  own  name  on  my  picture.  This  will 
naturally  convey  the  impression  that  it  is  a por- 
trait of  Miss  Carl,  and  not  a portrait  of  myself  at 
all.”  I again  had  to  explain  the  reason  for  this, 
saying  that  it  was  always  customary  for  foreign 
artists  to  write  their  names  at  the  foot  of  any  pic- 


THE  SEA  PALACE 


353 


ture  they  painted,  whether  portrait  or  otherwise. 
So  Her  Majesty  said  she  supposed  it  was  all 
right,  and  would  have  to  remain,  but  she  looked 
anything  but  satisfied  with  it. 

By  working  practically  all  night  and  all  day, 
Miss  Carl  managed  to  get  the  portrait  finished  by 
the  time  stipulated,  and  Her  Majesty  arranged 
that  Mrs.  Conger  and  the  other  ladies  of  the  Dip- 
lomatic Corps  should  come  to  the  Palace  and  see 
the  portrait.  This  was  quite  a private  audience 
and  Her  Majesty  received  them  in  one  of  the 
small  Audience  Halls.  After  the  usual  greet- 
ings Her  Majesty  ordered  us  to  conduct  the  la- 
dies to  the  studio,  which  we  did.  Her  Majesty 
bidding  them  good-bye  and  remaining  in  her  own 
apartments.  The  Young  Empress  in  accordance 
with  instructions  from  Her  Majesty,  accom- 
panied us  to  the  studio,  and  acted  as  hostess. 
Everybody  expressed  great  admiration  for  the 
portrait  and  it  was  voted  a marvellous  likeness. 
After  inspecting  the  picture  we  all  adjourned  for 
refreshments.  The  Young  Empress  sat  at  the 
head  of  the  table  and  asked  me  to  sit  next  to  her. 
Shortly  after  everybody  was  seated  a eunuch 
came  and  asked  the  Young  Empress  to  inform 
these  ladies  that  the  Emperor  was  slightly  indis- 
posed and  was  unable  to  be  present.  I inter- 
preted this,  and  everybody  appeared  satisfied. 
As  a matter  of  fact  the  Emperor  was  quite  well, 


354>  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


but  we  had  forgotten  all  about  him.  And  so  the 
guests  departed  without  seeing  him  on  this  oc- 
casion. 

On  reporting  everything  to  Her  Majesty  as 
usual,  she  asked  what  they  thought  of  the  por- 
trait, and  we  told  her  that  they  had  admired  it 
very  much.  Her  Majesty  said:  “Of  course  they 
did,  it  was  painted  by  a foreign  artist.”  She 
didn’t  appear  to  be  very  much  interested  and  was 
quite  cross  about  something,  which  caused  me 
great  disappointment  after  all  the  trouble  Miss 
Carl  had  taken  to  finish  the  portrait.  Her  Maj- 
esty then  remarked  that  Miss  Carl  had  taken  a 
long  time  to  get  the  portrait  finished,  and  asked 
why  nobody  had  reminded  her  to  inform  the 
Emperor  about  the  audience,  being  particularly 
angry  with  the  head  eunuch  on  this  occasion. 
Her  Majesty  said  that  as  soon  as  she  remem- 
bered, she  immediately  sent  a eunuch  to  make 
excuses,  as  the  ladies  might  very  well  think  that 
something  had  happened  to  the  Emperor  and  it 
might  cause  talk.  I told  her  that  I explained 
to  them  that  the  Emperor  was  not  well  and  they 
evidently  thought  nothing  further  of  his  absence. 

By  the  next  day  the  carpenters  in  the  Palace 
had  finished  the  frame  for  the  portrait  and  when 
it  had  been  properly  fitted  Her  Majesty  or- 
dered my  brother  to  take  a photograph  of  it. 
This  photograph  turned  out  so  well  that  Her 


THE  SEA  PALACE 


355 


Majesty  said  it  was  better  than  the  portrait  it- 
self. | 

The  picture  being  now  quite  finished,  Miss 
Carl  prepared  to  take  her  leave,  which  she  did 
a few  days  later,  having  received  a handsome 
present  in  cash  from  Her  Majesty  in  addition 
to  a decoration  and  many  other  presents  as  re- 
muneration for  her  services.  For  quite  a long 
time  after  Miss  Carl  had  left  the  Palace  I felt 
very  lonely,  as  during  her  stay  I had  found  her 
a genial  companion  and  we  had  many  things  in 
common  to  talk  about.  Her  Majesty  noticed 
that  I was  rather  quiet,  and  asked  me  the  cause. 
She  said:  “I  suppose  you  are  beginning  to  miss 
your  friend,  the  lady  artist.”  I did  not  care  to 
admit  that  this  was  so,  for  fear  she  might  think 
me  ungrateful  to  herself,  besides  which  I knew 
she  did  not  like  the  idea  of  my  being  too  friendly 
with  foreigners.  So  I explained  to  Her  Maj- 
esty that  I always  did  regret  losing  old  friends 
but  that  I would  get  used  to  the  change  very 
soon.  Her  Majesty  was  very  nice  about  it  and 
said  she  wished  that  she  was  a little  more  sen- 
timental over  such  small  things,  but  that  when 
I got  to  her  age  I should  be  able  to  take  things 
more  philosophically. 

After  Miss  Carl  had  left  the  Court,  Her 
Majesty  asked  me  one  day:  “Did  she  ever  ask 
you  much  about  the  Boxer  movement  of  1900?” 


356  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


I told  her  that  I knew  very  little  of  the  Boxer 
movement  myself,  as  I was  in  Paris  at  the  time 
and  I could  not  say  very  much.  I assured  her 
that  the  lady  artist  never  mentioned  the  subject 
to  me.  Her  Majesty  said:  “I  hate  to  mention 
about  that  affair  and  I would  not  like  to  have 
foreigners  ask  my  people  questions  on  that  sub- 
ject. Do  you  know,  I have  often  thought  that 
I am  the  most  clever  woman  that  ever  lived  and 
others  cannot  compare  with  me.  Although  I 
have  heard  much  about  Queen  Victoria  and  read 
a part  of  her  life  which  someone  has  translated 
into  Chinese,  still  I don’t  think  her  life  was  half 
so  interesting  and  eventful  as  mine.  My  life  is 
not  finished  yet  and  no  one  knows  what  is  go- 
ing to  happen  in  the  future.  I may  surprise 
the  foreigners  some  day  with  something  extraor- 
dinary and  do  something  quite  contrary  to  any- 
thing I have  yet  done.  England  is  one  of 
great  powers  of  the  world,  but  this  has  not 
been  brought  about  by  Queen  Victoria’s  absolute 
rule.  She  had  the  able  men  of  parliament  back 
of  her  at  all  times  and  of  course  they  discussed 
everything  until  the  best  result  was  obtained, 
then  she  would  sign  the  necessary  documents 
and  really  had  nothing  to  say  about  the  policy  of 
the  country.  Now  look  at  me.  I have  400,000,- 
000  people,  all  dependent  on  my  judgment. 
Although  I have  the  Grand  Council  to  consult 


THE  SEA  PALACE 


357 


with,  they  only  look  after  the  different  appoint- 
ments, but  anything  of  an  important  nature  I 
must  decide  myself.  What  does  the  Emperor 
know?  I have  been  very  successful  so  far,  but 
I never  dreamt  that  the  Boxer  movement  would 
end  with  such  serious  results  for  China.  That 
is  the  only  mistake  I have  made  in  my  life.  I 
should  have  issued  an  Edict  at  once  to  stop  the 
Boxers  practising  their  belief,  but  both  Prince 
Tuan  and  Duke  Lan  told  me  that  they  firmly 
believed  the  Boxers  were  sent  by  Heaven  to  en- 
able China  to  get  rid  of  all  the  undesirable  and 
hated  foreigners.  Of  course  they  meant  mostly 
missionaries,  and  you  know  how  I hate  them 
and  how  very  religious  I always  am,  so  I thought 
I would  not  not  say  anything  then  but  would 
wait  and  see  what  would  happen.  I felt  sure 
they  were  going  too  far  as  one  day  Prince  Tuan 
brought  the  Boxer  leader  to  the  Summer  Palace 
and  summoned  all  the  eunuchs  into  the  courtyard 
of  the  Audience  Hall  and  examined  each  eunuch 
on  the  head  to  see  if  there  was  a cross.  He  said, 
‘This  cross  is  not  visible  to  you,  but  I can  identify 
a Christian  by  finding  a cross  on  the  head.’ 
Prince  Tuan  then  came  to  my  private  Palace 
and  told  me  that  the  Boxer  leader  was  at  the 
Palace  Gate  and  had  found  two  eunuchs  who 
were  Christians  and  asked  me  what  was  to  be 
done.  I immediately  became  very  angry  and 


358  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


told  him  that  he  had  no  right  to  bring  any  Boxers 
to  the  Palace  without  my  permission;  but  he  said 
this  leader  was  so  powerful  that  he  was  able  to 
kill  all  the  foreigners  and  was  not  afraid  of  the 
foreign  guns,  as  all  the  gods  were  protecting 
him.  Prince  Tuan  told  me  that  he  had  wit- 
nessed this  himself.  A Boxer  shot  another  with 
a revolver  and  the  bullet  hit  him,  but  did  not 
harm  him  in  the  least.  Then  Prince  Tuan  sug- 
gested that  I hand  these  two  eunuchs  supposed 
to  be  Christians  to  the  Boxer  leader,  which  I did. 
I heard  afterwards  that  these  two  eunuchs  were 
beheaded  right  in  the  country  somewhere  near 
here.  This  chief  Boxer  came  to  the  Palace  the 
next  day,  accompanied  by  Prince  Tuan  and 
Duke  Lan,  to  make  all  the  eunuchs  burn  incense 
sticks  to  prove  that  they  were  not  Christians. 
After  that  Prince  Tuan  also  suggested  that  we 
had  better  let  the  chief  Boxer  come  every  day 
and  teach  the  eunuchs  their  belief;  that  nearly 
all  of  Peking  was  studying  with  the  Boxers.  The 
next  day  I was  very  much  surprised  to  see  all 
my  eunuchs  dressed  as  Boxers.  They  wore  red 
jackets,  red  turbans  and  yellow  trousers.  I was 
sorry  to  see  all  my  attendants  discard  their  offi- 
cial robes  and  wear  a funny  costume  like  that. 
Duke  Lan  presented  me  with  a suit  of  Boxer 
clothes.  At  that  time  Yung  Lu,  who  was  the 
head  of  the  Grand  Council,  was  ill  and  asked 


THE  SEA  PALACE 


359 


leave  of  absence  for  a month.  While  he  was 
sick,  I used  to  send  one  of  the  eunuchs  to  see 
him  every  day,  and  that  day  the  eunuch  returned 
and  informed  me  that  Yung  Lu  was  quite  well 
and  would  come  to  the  Palace  the  next  day, 
although  he  still  had  fifteen  days  more  leave.  I 
was  puzzled  to  know  why  he  should  give  up  the 
balance  of  his  leave.  However,  I was  very  anx- 
ious to  see  him,  as  I wished  to  consult  him  about 
this  chief  Boxer.  Yung  Lu  looked  grieved 
when  he  learned  what  had  taken  place  at  the  Pal- 
ace, and  said  that  these  Boxers  were  nothing  but 
revolutionaries  and  agitators.  They  were  trying 
to  get  the  people  to  help  them  to  kill  the  for- 
eigners, but  he  was  very  much  afraid  the  result 
would  be  against  the  Government.  I told  him 
that  probably  he  was  right,  and  asked  him  what 
should  be  done.  He  told  me  that  he  would  talk 
to  Prince  Tuan,  but  the  next  day  Prince  Tuan 
told  me  that  he  had  had  a fight  with  Yung  Lu 
about  the  Boxer  question,  and  said  that  all  of 
Peking  had  become  Boxers,  and  if  we  tried  to 
turn  them,  they  would  do  all  they  could  to  kill 
everyone  in  Peking,  including  the  Court;  that 
they  (the  Boxer  party)  had  the  day  selected  to 
kill  all  the  foreign  representatives;  that  Tung 
Fou  Hsiang,  a very  conservative  General  and 
one  of  the  Boxers,  had  promised  to  bring  his 
troops  out  to  help  the  Boxers  to  fire  on  the  Lega- 


360  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


tions.  When  I heard  this  I was  very  much  wor- 
ried and  anticipated  serious  trouble,  so  I sent 
for  Yung  Lu  at  once  and  kept  Prince  Tuan  with 
me.  Yung  Lu  came,  looking  very  much  wor- 
ried, and  he  was  more  so  after  I had  told  him 
what  the  Boxers  were  going  to  do.  He  imme- 
diately suggested  that  I should  issue  an  Edict, 
saying  that  these  Boxers  were  a secret  society 
and  that  no  one  should  believe  their  teaching, 
and  to  instruct  the  Generals  of  the  nine  gates 
to  drive  all  the  Boxers  out  of  the  city  at  once. 
When  Prince  Tuan  heard  this  he  was  very  angry 
and  told  Yung  Lu  that  if  such  an  Edict  was 
issued,  the  Boxers  would  come  to  the  Court  and 
kill  everybody.  When  Prince  Tuan  told  me 
this,  I thought  I had  better  leave  everything  to 
him.  After  he  left  the  Palace,  Yung  Lu  said 
that  Prince  Tuan  was  absolutely  crazy  and  that 
he  was  sure  these  Boxers  would  be  the  cause  of 
a great  deal  of  trouble.  Yung  Lu  also  said  that 
Prince  Tuan  must  be  insane  to  be  helping  the 
Boxers  to  destroy  the  Legations ; that  these  Box- 
ers were  a very  common  lot,  without  education, 
and  they  imagined  the  few  foreigners  in  China 
were  the  only  ones  on  the  earth  and  if  they  were 
killed  it  would  be  the  end  of  them.  They  forgot 
how  very  strong  these  foreign  countries  are,  and 
that  if  the  foreigners  in  China  were  all  killed, 
thousands  would  come  to  avenge  their  death. 


THE  SEA  PALACE 


361 


Yung  Lu  assured  me  that  one  foreign  soldier 
could  kill  one  hundred  Boxers  without  the  slight- 
est trouble,  and  begged  me  to  give  him  instruc- 
tions to  order  General  Nieh,  who  was  afterwards 
killed  by  the  Boxers,  to  bring  his  troops  to  pro- 
tect the  Legations.  Of  course  I gave  him  this 
instruction  at  once,  and  also  told  him  that  he 
must  see  Prince  Tuan  at  once  and  Duke  Lan  to 
tell  them  that  this  was  a very  serious  affair  and 
that  they  had  better  not  interfere  with  Yung 
Lu’s  plans.  Matters  became  worse  day  by  day 
and  Yung  Lu  was  the  only  one  against  the 
Boxers,  but  what  could  one  man  accomplish 
against  so  many?  One  day  Prince  Tuan  and 
Duke  Lan  came  and  asked  me  to  issue  an  Edict 
ordering  the  Boxers  to  kill  all  the  Legation  peo- 
ple first  and  then  all  remaining  foreigners.  I 
was  very  angry  and  refused  to  issue  this  Edict. 
After  we  had  talked  a very  long  time.  Prince 
Tuan  said  that  this  must  be  done  without  delay, 
for  the  Boxers  were  getting  ready  to  fire  on  the 
Legations  and  would  do  so  the  very  next  day. 
I was  furious  and  ordered  several  of  the  eunuchs 
to  drive  him  out,  and  he  said  as  he  was  going  out : 
‘If  you  refuse  to  issue  that  Edict,  I will  do  it 
for  you  whether  you  are  willing  or  not,’  and  he 
did.  After  that  you  know  what  happened.  He 
issued  these  Edicts  unknown  to  me  and  was 
responsible  for  a great  many  deaths.  He  found 


362  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


that  he  could  not  carry  his  plans  through  and 
heard  that  the  foreign  troops  were  not  very  far 
from  Peking.  He  was  so  frightened  that  he 
made  us  all  leave  Peking.”  As  she  finished  say- 
ing this,  she  started  to  cry,  and  I told  her  that 
I felt  very  sorry  for  her.  She  said:  “You  need 
not  feel  sorry  for  me  for  what  I have  gone 
through;  but  you  must  feel  sorry  that  my  fair 
name  is  ruined.  That  is  the  only  mistake  I have 
made  in  my  whole  life  and  it  was  done  in  a mo- 
ment of  weakness.  Before  I was  just  like  a 
piece  of  pure  jade;  everyone  admired  me  for 
what  I have  done  for  my  country,  but  the  jade 
has  a flaw  in  it  since  this  Boxer  movement  and 
it  will  remain  there  to  the  end  of  my  life.  I 
have  regretted  many,  many  times  that  I had 
such  confidence  in,  and  believed  that  wicked 
Prince  Tuan;  he  was  responsible  for  everything.” 
By  the  end  of  the  third  moon  Her  Majesty 
had  had  enough  of  the  Sea  Palace  and  the  Court 
moved  into  the  Summer  Palace.  This  time  we 
travelled  by  boat  as  it  was  very  beautiful 
weather.  On  reaching  the  water-gates  of  the 
Palace  we  found  everything  just  lovely  and  the 
peach  blossoms  were  in  full  bloom.  Her  Maj- 
esty plainly  showed  how  glad  she  was  to  be  back 
once  more  and  for  the  time  being  seemed  to  have 
forgotten  everything  else,  even  the  war. 


CHAPTER  TWENTY 


CONCLUSION 

My  second  year  at  the  Palace  was  very  much 
the  same  as  the  first.  We  celebrated  each  anni- 
versary and  festival  in  the  same  way  as  before: 
the  usual  audience  was  held  each  morning  by 
Her  Majesty,  after  which  the  day  was  given  up 
to  enjoyment.  Amongst  other  things  Her  Maj- 
esty took  great  interest  in  her  vegetable  gardens, 
and  superintended  the  planting  of  the  different 
seeds.  When  vegetables  were  ready  for  pull- 
ing, from  time  to  time,  all  the  Court  ladies 
were  supplied  with  a kind  of  small  pruning  fork 
and  gathered  in  the  crop.  Her  Majesty  seemed 
to  enjoy  seeing  us  work  in  the  fields,  and  when 
the  fit  seized  her  she  would  come  along  and 
help.  In  order  to  encourage  us  in  this  work, 
Her  Majesty  would  give  a small  present  to  the 
one  who  showed  the  best  results  so  we  naturally 
did  our  best  in  order  to  please  her,  as  much  as 
for  the  reward.  Another  hobby  of  Her  Maj- 
esty’s was  the  rearing  of  chickens,  and  a certain 
number  of  birds  were  allotted  to  each  of  the 
Court  ladies.  We  were  supposed  to  look  after 

363 


364  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


these  ourselves  and  the  eggs  had  to  be  taken  to 
Her  Majesty  every  morning.  I could  not  un- 
derstand why  it  was  that  my  chickens  gave  less 
eggs  than  any  of  the  others  until  one  day  my 
eunuch  informed  me  that  he  had  seen  one  of  the 
other  eunuchs  stealing  the  eggs  from  my  hen 
house  and  transferring  them  to  another,  in  order 
to  help  his  mistress  to  head  the  list. 

Her  Majesty  was  very  particular  not  to  en- 
courage untidyness  or  extravagance  among  the 
Court  ladies.  On  one  occasion  she  told  me  to 
open  a parcel  which  was  lying  in  her  room.  I 
was  about  to  cut  the  string  when  Her  Majesty 
stopped  me  and  told  me  to  untie  it.  This  I man- 
aged to  do  after  a lot  of  trouble,  and  opened  the 
parcel.  Her  Majesty  next  made  me  fold  the 
paper  neatly  and  place  it  in  a drawer  along  with 
the  string  so  that  I would  know  where  to  find  it 
should  it  be  wanted  again.  From  time  to  time 
Her  Majesty  would  give  each  of  us  money  for 
our  own  private  use  and  whenever  we  wanted  to 
buy  anything,  say  flowers,  handkerchiefs,  shoes, 
ribbons,  etc.,  these  could  be  bought  from  the 
servant  girls  who  used  to  make  them  in  the  Pal- 
ace and  we  would  enter  each  item  in  a small  note 
book  supplied  by  Her  Majesty  for  the  purpose. 
At  the  end  of  each  month  Her  Majesty  exam- 
ined our  accounts  and  in  case  she  considered  that 
we  had  been  extravagant  she  would  give  us  a 


CONCLUSION 


365 


good  scolding,  while  on  the  other  hand,  if  we 
managed  to  show  a good  balance  she  would  com- 
pliment us  on  our  good  management.  Thus  un- 
der Her  Majesty’s  tuition  we  learned  to  be 
careful  and  tidy  against  such  time  as  we  might  be 
called  upon  to  look  after  homes  of  our  own. 

About  this  time  my  father  began  to  show  signs 
of  breaking  down  and  asked  for  permission  to 
withdraw  from  public  life.  However,  Her 
Majesty  would  not  hear  of  tliis  and  decided  to 
give  him  another  six  months  vacation  instead. 
It  was  his  intention  to  go  to  Shanghai  and  see 
the  family  physician,  but  Iler  Majesty  did  not 
approve  of  this,  maintaining  that  her  own  doc- 
tors were  quite  as  good  as  any  foreign  doctor. 
These  doctors  therefore  attended  him  for  some 
time,  prescribing  all  kinds  of  different  concoc- 
tions daily.  After  a while  he  seemed  to  pick  up  a 
little  but  was  still  unable  to  get  about  on  account 
of  having  chronic  rheumatism.  We  therefore 
again  suggested  that  it  would  be  better  for  him 
to  see  his  own  doctor  in  Shanghai,  who  under- 
stood my  father  thoroughly,  but  Her  Majesty 
could  not  be  made  to  see  it  in  that  light.  She 
said  that  what  we  wanted  was  a little  patience, 
that  the  Chinese  doctors  might  be  slow,  but  they 
were  sure,  and  she  was  convinced  they  would  com- 
pletely cure  my  father  very  soon.  The  fact  of 
the  matter  was  she  was  afraid  that  if  my  father 


366  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


went  to  stay  in  Shanghai  the  rest  of  the  family 
would  want  to  be  there  with  him,  which  was  not 
in  her  programme  at  all.  So  we  decided  to  re- 
main in  Peking  unless  my  father  showed  signs  of 
getting  worse. 

In  due  course  the  time  arrived  on  which  it  had 
been  arranged  to  hold  the  Spring  Garden  Party 
for  the  Diplomatic  Corps,  and  as  usual  one  day 
was  set  apart  for  the  Ministers,  Secretaries  and 
members  of  the  various  Legations,  and  the  fol- 
lowing day  for  their  wives,  etc.  This  year  very 
few  guests  attended  the  Garden  Party  but 
among  those  who  did  come  were  several  stran- 
gers. About  half  a dozen  ladies  from  the 
Japanese  Legation  came  with  Madame  Uchida, 
wife  of  the  Japanese  Minister.  Her  Majesty 
was  always  very  pleased  to  see  this  lady  whom 
she  very  much  admired  on  account  of  her  extreme 
politeness.  After  the  usual  presentation  we 
conducted  the  ladies  to  luncheon,  showed  them 
over  the  Palace  grounds,  after  which  we  wished 
them  good-bye  and  they  took  their  leave.  We 
reported  everything  to  Her  Majesty,  and  as 
usual  were  asked  many  questions.  Among  the 
guests  there  was  one  lady  (English  so  far  as 
I could  make  out)  dressed  in  a heavy  tweed 
travelling  costume,  having  enormous  pockets, 
into  which  she  thrust  her  hands  as  though  it  were 
extremely  cold.  She  wore  a cap  of  the  same 


CONCLUSION 


367 


material.  Her  Majesty  asked  if  I had  noticed 
this  lady  with  the  clothes  made  out  of  “rice 
bags,”  and  wasn’t  it  rather  unusual  to  be  pre- 
sented at  Court  in  such  a dress.  Her  Majesty 
wanted  to  know  who  she  was  and  where  she  came 
from.  I replied  that  she  certainly  did  not  be- 
long to  any  of  the  Legations  as  I was  acquainted 
with  everybody  there.  Her  Majesty  said  that 
whoever  she  was  she  certainly  was  not  accustomed 
to  moving  in  descent  society  as  she  (Her  Maj- 
esty) was  quite  certain  that  it  was  not  the  thing 
to  appear  at  a European  Court  in  such  a cos- 
tume. “I  can  tell  in  a moment,”  Her  Majesty 
added,  “whether  any  of  these  people  are  de- 
sirous of  showing  proper  respect  to  me,  or 
whether  they  consider  that  I am  not  entitled  to 
it.  These  foreigners  seem  to  have  the  idea  that 
the  Chinese  are  ignorant  and  that  therefore  they 
need  not  be  so  particular  as  in  European  Society. 
I think  it  would  be  best  to  let  it  be  understood 
for  the  future  what  dress  should  be  worn  at  the 
different  Court  Functions,  and  at  the  same  time 
use  a certain  amount  of  discretion  in  issuing  in- 
vitations. In  that  way  I can  also  keep  the  mis- 
sionary element  out,  as  well  as  other  undesirables. 
I like  to  meet  any  distinguished  foreigners  who 
may  be  visiting  in  China,  but  I do  not  want  any 
common  people  at  my  Court.”  I suggested  that 
the  Japanese  custom  could  be  followed,  viz.:  to 


368  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


issue  proper  invitation  cards,  stipulating  at  the 
foot  the  dress  to  be  worn  on  each  particular  oc- 
casion. Her  Majesty  thought  this  would  meet 
the  case  and  it  was  decided  to  introduce  a similar 
rule  in  China. 

Whenever  the  weather  permitted,  Her  Maj- 
esty would  pass  quite  a lot  of  her  time  in  the 
open  air  watching  the  eunuchs  at  work  in  the 
gardens.  During  the  early  Spring  the  lotus 
plants  were  transplanted  and  she  would  take 
keen  interest  in  this  work.  All  the  old  roots  had 
to  be  cut  away  and  the  new  bulbs  planted  in 
fresh  soil.  Although  the  lotus  grew  in  the  shal- 
lowest part  of  the  lake  (the  West  side)  it  was 
necessary  for  the  eunuchs  to  wade  into  the  water 
sometimes  up  to  their  waists  in  order  to  weed  out 
the  old  plants  and  set  the  young  ones.  Her 
Majesty  would  sit  for  hours  on  her  favorite 
bridge  (The  Jade  Girdle  Bridge)  and  superin- 
tend the  eunuchs  at  their  work,  suggesting  from 
time  to  time  as  to  how  the  bulbs  were  to  be 
planted.  This  work  generally  took  three  or  four 
days,  and  the  Court  ladies  in  attendance  would 
stand  beside  Her  Majesty  and  pass  the  time 
making  fancy  tassels  for  Her  Majesty’s  cush- 
ions, in  fact  doing  anything  so  long  as  we  did 
not  idle. 

It  was  during  the  Spring  that  Yuan  Shih  Ivai 
paid  another  visit  to  the  Palace,  and  among  other 


CONCLUSION 


369 


subjects  discussed  was  the  Russo- Japan  war. 
He  told  Her  Majesty  that  it  was  developing  into 
a very  serious  affair  and  that  he  feared  China 
would  be  the  principal  sufferer  in  the  long  run. 
Her  Majesty  was  very  much  upset  by  this  news, 
and  mentioned  that  she  had  been  advised  by  one 
of  the  censors  to  make  a present  to  the  Japanese 
of  a large  quantity  of  rice,  but  had  decided  to 
take  no  action  whatever  in  the  matter,  which  re- 
solve Yuan  Shih  Kai  strongly  supported. 

I was  still  working  each  day  translating  the 
various  newspaper  reports  and  telegrams  rela- 
ting to  the  war  and  one  morning,  seeing  a para- 
graph to  the  effect  that  Kang  Yu  Wei  (Leader 
of  the  Reform  Movement  in  China  in  1898)  had 
arrived  at  Singapore  from  Batavia,  I thought  it 
might  interest  Her  Majesty  and  so  translated  it 
along  with  the  rest.  Her  Majesty  immediately 
became  very  much  excited  which  made  me  feel 
frightened  as  I did  not  know  what  could  be  the 
matter.  However,  she  explained  to  me  that  this 
man  had  caused  all  kinds  of  trouble  in  China, 
that  before  meeting  Kang  Yu  Wei  the  Emperor 
had  been  a zealous  adherent  to  the  traditions  of 
his  ancestors  but  since  then  had  plainly  shown 
his  desire  to  introduce  reforms  and  even  Chris- 
tianity into  the  country.  “On  one  occasion,” 
continued  Her  Majesty,  “he  caused  the  Em- 
peror to  issue  instructions  for  the  Summer  Pal- 


370  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


ace  to  be  surrounded  by  soldiers  so  as  to  keep 
me  prisoner  until  these  reforms  could  be  put 
into  effect,  but  through  the  faithfulness  of  Yung 
Lu,  a member  of  the  Grand  Council,  and  Yuan 
Shill  Kai,  Viceroy  of  Chihli,  I was  able  to  frus- 
trate the  plot.  I immediately  proceeded  to  the 
Forbidden  City,  where  the  Emperor  was  then 
staying  and  after  discussing  the  question  with 
him  he  replied  that  he  realized  his  mistake  and 
asked  me  to  take  over  the  reins  of  government 
and  act  in  his  stead.” 

(The  result  of  this  was,  of  course,  the  Edict 
of  1898  appointing  the  Empress  Dowager  as 
Regent  of  China.) 

Her  Majesty  had  immediately  ordered  the 
capture  of  Kang  Yu  Wei  and  his  followers,  but 
he  had  managed  to  effect  his  escape  and  she  had 
heard  nothing  further  about  him  until  I trans- 
lated this  report  in  the  newspaper.  She  seemed 
relieved,  however,  to  know  where  he  was,  and 
seemed  anxious  to  hear  what  he  was  doing.  She 
suddenly  became  very  angry  again  and  asked 
why  it  was  that  the  foreign  governments  offered 
protection  to  Chinese  political  agitators  and  crim- 
inals. Why  couldn’t  they  leave  China  to  deal 
with  her  own  subjects  and  mind  their  own  busi- 
ness a little  more?  She  gave  me  instructions  to 
keep  a lookout  for  any  further  news  of  this  gen- 
tleman and  report  to  her  immediately,  but  I made 


CONCLUSION 


371 


up  my  mind  that  in  any  case,  I would  not  men- 
tion anything  about  him  again  and  so  the  matter 
gradually  died  away. 

During  one  of  our  visits  to  the  Sea  Palace 
Her  Majesty  drew  attention  to  a large  piece  of 
vacant  ground  and  said  that  it  had  formerly 
been  the  site  of  the  Audience  Hall  which  had 
been  destroyed  by  fire  during  the  Boxer  trouble. 
Her  Majesty  explained  that  this  had  been 
purely  an  accident  and  was  not  deliberately  de- 
stroyed by  the  foreign  troops.  She  said  that  it 
had  long  been  an  eyesore  to  her  as  it  was  so 
ugly,  and  that  she  had  now  determined  to  build 
another  Audience  Hall  on  the  same  site,  as  the 
present  Audience  Hall  was  too  small  to  accom- 
modate the  foreign  guests  when  they  paid  their 
respects  at  New  Year.  She  therefore  com- 
manded the  Board  of  Works  to  prepare  a model 
of  the  new  building  in  accordance  with  her  own 
ideas,  and  submit  it  for  her  approval.  Up  to  that 
time  all  the  buildings  in  the  Palace  Grounds 
were  typically  Chinese  but  this  new  Audience 
Hall  was  to  be  more  or  less  on  the  foreign  plan 
and  up  to  date  in  every  respect.  This  model 
was  accordingly  prepared  and  submitted  to  Her 
Majesty.  It  was  only  a small  wooden  model  but 
was  complete  in  eveiy  detail,  even  to  the  pattern 
of  the  windows  and  the  carving  on  the  ceilings 
and  panels.  However,  I never  knew  anything 


372  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


to  quite  come  up  to  Her  Majesty’s  ideas,  and 
this  was  no  exception.  She  criticised  the  model 
from  every  standpoint,  ordering  this  room  to  be 
enlarged  and  that  room  to  be  made  smaller:  this 
window  to  be  moved  to  another  place,  etc.,  etc. 
So  the  model  went  back  for  reconstruction. 
When  it  was  again  brought  for  Her  Majesty’s 
inspection  everybody  agreed  that  it  was  an  im- 
provement on  the  first  one,  and  even  Her  Maj- 
esty expressed  great  satisfaction.  The  next 
thing  was  to  find  a name  for  the  new  building 
and  after  serious  and  mature  consideration  it  was 
decided  to  name  it  Hai  Yen  Tang  (Sea  Coast 
Audience  Hall).  Building  operations  were 
commenced  immediately  and  Her  Majesty  took 
great  interest  in  the  progress  of  the  work.  It 
had  already  been  decided  that  this  Audience  Hall 
was  to  be  furnished  throughout  in  foreign  style, 
with  the  exception  of  the  throne,  which,  of  course, 
retained  its  Manchu  appearance.  Her  JMajesty 
compared  the  different  styles  of  furniture  with 
the  catalogues  we  had  brought  with  us  from 
[France  and  finally  decided  on  the  Louis  Fif- 
teenth style,  hut  everything  was  to  be  covered 
with  Imperial  Yellow,  with  curtains  and  carpets 
to  match.  When  everything  had  been  selected 
to  Her  Majesty’s  satisfaction,  my  mother  asked 
permission  to  defray  the  expense  herself  and 


CONCLUSION 


373 


make  a present  of  this  furniture.  This  Her 
Majesty  agreed  to  and  the  order  was  accordingly 
placed  with  a well-known  Paris  firm  from  whom 
we  had  purchased  furniture  when  in  France. 
By  the  time  the  building  was  completed  the 
furniture  had  arrived,  and  it  was  quickly  in- 
stalled. Her  Majesty  went  to  inspect  it  and,  of 
course,  had  to  find  fault  as  usual.  She  didn’t 
seem  at  all  pleased  with  the  result  of  the  experi- 
ment and  said  that  after  all  a Chinese  building 
would  have  been  the  best  as  it  would  have  had  a 
more  dignified  appearance.  However,  the  thing 
was  finished  and  it  was  no  use  finding  fault  now, 
as  it  could  not  be  changed. 

During  the  Summer  months  I had  plenty  of 
leisure  time  and  devoted  about  an  hour  each  day 
to  helping  the  Emperor  with  his  English.  He 
was  a most  intelligent  man  with  a wonderful 
memory  and  learned  very  quickly.  His  pronun- 
ciation, however,  was  not  good.  In  a very  short 
time  he  was  able  to  read  short  stories  out  of  an 
ordinary  school  reader  and  could  write  from  dic- 
tation fairly  well.  His  handwriting  was  excep- 
tionally fine,  while  in  copying  old  English  and 
ornamental  characters,  he  was  an  expert.  Her 
Majesty  seemed  pleased  that  the  Emperor  had 
taken  up  this  study,  and  said  she  thought  of  tak- 
ing it  up  herself  as  she  was  quite  sure  she  would 


374  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


learn  it  very  quickly  if  she  tried.  After  two  les- 
sons she  lost  patience,  and  did  not  mention  the 
matter  again. 

Of  course  these  lessons  gave  me  plenty  of  op- 
portunity to  talk  with  His  Majesty,  and  on  one 
occasion  he  ventured  the  remark  that  I didn’t 
seem  to  have  made  much  progress  with  Her 
Majesty  in  the  matter  of  reform.  I told  him 
that  many  things  had  been  accomplished  since 
my  arrival  at  Court,  and  mentioned  the  new 
Audience  Hall  as  an  instance.  He  didn’t  ap- 
pear to  think  that  anything  worth  talking  about, 
and  advised  me  to  give  up  the  matter  altogether. 
He  said  when  the  proper  time  arrived — if  it  ever 
did  arrive — then  I might  be  of  use,  but  ex- 
pressed grave  doubts  on  the  subject.  He  also 
enquired  about  my  father  and  I told  him  that 
unless  his  health  improved  very  soon  it  would  be 
necessary  for  us  to  leave  the  Court  for  a while 
at  any  rate.  He  replied  that  although  he  should 
very  much  regret  such  a necessity,  he  really  be- 
lieved that  it  would  be  for  the  best.  He  said  he 
felt  certain  that  I should  never  be  able  to  settle 
down  permanently  to  Court  life  after  spending 
so  many  years  abroad,  and  for  his  part  would 
put  no  obstacles  in  the  wray  of  my  leaving  the 
Court  if  I desired  to  do  so. 

Her  Majesty  had  given  me  permission  to  visit 
pay  father  twice  every  month,  and  everything 


CONCLUSION 


375 


appeared  to  be  going  along  nicely  until  one  day 
one  of  Her  Majesty’s  servant  girls  told  me  that 
Her  Majesty  was  trying  to  arrange  another 
marriage  for  me.  At  first  I did  not  take  any 
notice  of  this,  but  shortly  afterwards  Her  Maj- 
esty informed  me  that  everything  was  arranged 
and  that  I was  to  be  married  to  a certain  Prince 
whom  she  had  chosen.  I could  see  that  Her 
Majesty  was  waiting  for  me  to  say  something, 
so  I told  her  that  I was  very  much  worried  at 
that  time  about  my  father  and  begged  her  to 
allow  the  matter  to  stand  over  for  the  time  being 
at  any  rate.  This  made  Her  Majesty  very 
angry,  and  she  told  me  that  she  considered  me 
very  ungrateful  after  all  she  had  done  for  me. 
I didn’t  reply,  and  as  her  Majesty  did  not  say 
anything  more  at  the  time,  I tried  to  forget 
about  it.  However,  on  my  next  visit  home,  I 
told  my  father  all  about  it,  and  as  before  he 
was  strongly  opposed  to  such  a marriage.  He 
suggested  that  on  my  return  to  the  Palace  I 
should  lay  the  whole  matter  before  Li  Lien 
Ying,  the  head  eunuch,  and  explain  my  position, 
for  if  anybody  could  influence  Her  Majesty,  he 
was  the  one.  I,  therefore,  took  the  first  oppor- 
tunity of  speaking  to  him.  At  first  he  appeared 
very  reluctant  to  interfere  in  the  matter,  and 
said  he  thought  I ought  to  do  as  Her  Majesty 
wished,  but  on  my  stating  that  I had  no  desire 


876  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


to  marry  at  all,  but  was  quite  willing  to  remain 
at  Court  in  my  present  position,  he  promised  to 
do  his  best  for  me.  I never  heard  anything  fur- 
ther about  my  marriage,  either  from  Her  Maj- 
esty or  Li  Lien  Ying,  and  therefore  concluded 
that  he  had  been  able  to  arrange  the  matter  satis- 
factorily. 

The  Summer  passed  without  anything  further 
important  occurring.  During  the  eighth  moon 
the  bamboos  were  cut  down  and  here  again  the 
Court  ladies  were  called  upon  to  assist,  our 
work  being  to  carve  designs  and  characters  on 
the  cut  trees,  Her  Majesty  assisting.  These 
were  afterwards  made  into  chairs,  tables  and 
other  useful  articles  for  Her  Majesty’s  tea- 
house. During  the  long  Autumn  evenings  Her 
Majesty  would  teach  us  Chinese  history  and  poe- 
try and  every  tenth  day  would  put  us  through 
an  examination  in  order  to  find  out  how  much 
we  had  learned,  prizes  being  awarded  for  pro- 
ficiency. The  younger  eunuchs  also  took  part 
in  these  lessons  and  some  of  their  answers  to  Her 
Majesty’s  questions  were  very  amusing.  If 
Her  Majesty  were  in  a good  humor  she  would 
laugh  with  the  rest  of  us,  but  sometimes  she 
would  order  them  to  be  punished  for  their  ig- 
norance and  stupidity.  However,  as  they  were 
quite  accustomed  to  being  punished  they  did  not 


The  Princess  Der  Ling  in  Evening  Costume 


CONCLUSION 


377 


seem  to  mind  very  much  and  forgot  all  about  it 
the  next  minute. 

As  Her  Majesty’s  seventieth  birthday  was 
approaching  the  Emperor  proposed  to  celebrate 
this  event  on  an  unusually  grand  scale,  but  Her 
Majesty  would  not  give  her  consent  to  this  pro- 
posal on  account  of  the  war  trouble,  for  fear 
people  might  comment  on  it.  The  only  differ- 
ence, therefore,  between  this  birthday  and  for- 
mer ones  was  that  Her  Majesty  gave  presents 
to  the  Court,  in  addition  to  receiving  them. 
These  included  the  bestowal  of  titles,  promotions 
and  increases  in  salary.  Among  the  titles  con- 
ferred by  Her  Majesty,  my  sister  and  myself  re- 
ceived the  title  of  Chun  Chu  Hsien  (Princess). 
These  titles,  however,  were  confined  to  members 
of  the  Court,  and  were  granted  specially  by  the 
Empress  Dowager.  Similar  promotions  to  out- 
side officials  were  always  conferred  by  the  Em- 
peror. It  was  proposed  to  hold  the  celebrations 
in  the  Forbidden  City  as  it  was  more  suited 
for  such  an  important  event.  However,  Her 
Majesty  did  not  like  this  idea  at  all,  and  gave 
instructions  that  the  Court  should  not  be  moved 
until  three  days  before  the  10th  of  the  tenth 
moon,  the  date  of  her  birthday.  This  entailed  a 
lot  of  unnecessary  work  as  it  necessitated  dec- 
orating both  the  Summer  Palace  and  the  For- 


378  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


bidden  City.  Everything  was  hurry  and  bustle. 
To  add  to  this,  it  snowed  very  heavily  during  the 
few  days  previous  to  the  tenth.  Her  Majesty 
was  in  a very  good  mood.  She  was  very  fond 
of  being  out  in  the  snow  and  expressed  a wrish 
to  have  some  photographs  taken  of  herself  on 
the  hillside.  So  my  brother  was  commanded  to 
bring  his  camera,  and  took  several  very  good 
pictures  of  Her  Majesty. 

On  the  seventh  day  the  Court  moved  into  the 
Forbidden  City  and  the  celebrations  commenced. 
The  decorations  were  beautiful;  the  Court- 
yards being  covered  with  glass  roofs  to  keep  out 
the  snow.  The  theatres  were  in  full  swing  each 
day.  The  actual  ceremony,  which  took  place  on 
the  tenth,  did  not  differ  in  any  respect  from  pre- 
vious ones.  Everything  passed  off  smoothly,  and 
the  Court  removed  again  into  the  Sea  Palace. 

While  at  the  Sea  Palace  we  received  news 
that  my  father’s  condition  was  becoming  serious, 
and  he  again  tendered  his  resignation  to  Her 
Majesty.  She  sent  her  eunuchs  to  find  out  ex- 
actly what  the  matter  was,  and  on  learning  that 
he  was  really  very  ill,  accepted  his  resignation. 
Her  Majesty  agreed  that  it  might  be  better  for 
him  to  go  to  Shanghai  and  see  if  the  foreign 
physicians  could  do  him  any  good.  She  said 
she  supposed  it  would  be  necessary  for  my 
mother  to  accompany  him  to  Shanghai,  but  did 


CONCLUSION 


379 


not  consider  it  serious  enough  to  send  my  sister 
and  myself  along  also.  I tried  to  explain  that 
it  was  my  duty  to  go  along  with  him  as  he  might 
be  taken  worse  and  die  before  I could  get  down 
to  see  him  again,  and  I begged  Her  Majesty  to 
allow  me  to  go.  She  offered  all  kinds  of  objec- 
tions but  eventually,  seeing  that  I was  bent  on 
going,  she  said:  “Well,  he  is  your  father,  and  I 
suppose  you  want  to  be  with  him,  so  you  may  go 
on  the  understanding  that  you  return  to  Court 
as  soon  as  ever  possible.”  We  did  not  get  away 
until  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  moon,  as  Her 
Majesty  insisted  on  making  clothes  for  us  and 
other  preparations  for  our  journey.  Of  course 
we  could  do  nothing  but  await  Her  Majesty’s 
pleasure. 

When  everything  was  ready  Her  Majesty  re- 
ferred to  her  book  to  choose  a suitable  day  for 
our  departure,  and  fixed  on  the  thirteenth  as 
being  the  best.  We  therefore  left  the  Palace 
for  our  own  house  on  the  twelfth.  We  kow- 
towed and  said  good-bye  to  Her  Majesty,  thank- 
ing her  for  her  many  kindnesses  during  our  stay 
with  her.  Everybody  cried,  even  Her  Maj- 
esty. We  then  went  to  say  good-bye  to  the 
Emperor  and  Young  Empress.  The  Emperor 
simply  shook  hands  and  wished  us  “Good  Luck” 
in  English.  Everybody  appeared  sorry  to  see 
us  leave.  After  standing  about  for  a long  time 


380  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY 


Her  Majesty  said  it  was  no  use  wasting  any 
more  time  and  that  we  had  better  start.  At  the 
gate  the  head  eunuch  bade  us  good-bye  and  we 
entered  our  carriage  and  drove  to  my  father’s 
house,  our  own  eunuchs  accompanying  us  to  the 
door.  We  found  everything  prepared  for  our 
journey,  and  early  the  next  morning  we  took 
train  to  Tientsin  where  we  just  managed  to  catch 
the  last  steamer  of  the  season  leaving  for  Shang- 
hai. As  it  was,  the  water  was  so  shallow  that 
we  ran  aground  on  the  Taku  bar. 

On  arrival  in  Shanghai  my  father  immediately 
consulted  his  physician  who  examined  him  and 
prescribed  medicine.  The  trip  itself  seemed  to 
have  done  him  a lot  of  good.  I very  soon  be- 
gan to  miss  my  life  at  Court,  and,  although  I had 
many  friends  in  Shanghai  and  was  invited  to 
dinner  parties  and  dances;  still  I did  not  seem 
to  be  able  to  enjoy  myself.  Everything  seemed 
different  to  what  I had  been  accustomed  to  in 
Peking  and  I simply  longed  for  the  time  when 
I should  be  able  to  return  to  Her  Majesty. 
About  two  weeks  after  our  arrival,  Her  Majesty 
sent  a special  messenger  down  to  Shanghai  to  see 
how  we  were  getting  along.  He  brought  us 
many  beautiful  presents  and  also  a lot  of  med- 
icine for  my  father.  We  were  very  glad  to  see 
him.  He  informed  us  that  we  were  missed  very 
much  at  Court  and  advised  us  to  return  as 


CONCLUSION 


381 


soon  as  it  was  possible  for  us  to  do  so.  As  my 
father  began  to  show  signs  of  improvement  he 
suggested  that  there  was  no  further  need  for  me 
to  stay  in  Shanghai,  and  thought  it  better  that 
I should  return  to  Peking  and  resume  my  duties 
at  Court.  I therefore  returned  early  in  the  New 
Year.  The  river  was  frozen  and  I had  to  travel 
by  boat  to  Chinwantao,  from  thence  by  rail  to 
Peking.  It  was  a most  miserable  journey  and 
I was  very  glad  when  it  was  over.  Her  Majesty 
had  sent  my  eunuchs  to  the  station  to  meet  me 
and  I at  once  proceeded  to  the  Palace.  On 
meeting  Her  Majesty  we  both  cried  again  by 
way  of  expressing  our  happiness.  I informed 
her  that  my  father  was  progressing  favorably 
and  that  I hoped  to  be  able  to  remain  with  her 
permanently. 

I resumed  my  previous  duties,  but  this  time 
I had  neither  my  sister  for  a companion  nor  my 
mother  to  chat  with  and  everything  appeared 
changed.  Her  Majesty  was  just  the  same,  how- 
ever, and  treated  me  most  kindly.  Still,  I was 
not  comfortable,  and  heartily  wished  myself 
back  again  in  Shanghai.  I stayed  at  the  Court, 
going  through  pretty  much  the  same  daily  routine 
as  before  until  the  second  moon  (March  1905), 
when  I received  a telegram  summoning  me  to 
Shanghai  as  my  father  had  become  worse,  and 
was  in  a critical  condition  and  wished  to  see 


382  TWO  YEARS  IN  THE  FORBIDDEN  CITY, 

me.  I showed  Her  Majesty  the  telegram  and 
waited  for  her  decision.  She  commenced  by 
telling  me  that  my  father  was  a very  old  man, 
and  therefore  his  chances  of  recovery  were  not 
so  great  as  if  he  were  younger,  finally  wind- 
ing up  by  telling  me  that  I could  go  to  him  at 
once.  I again  wished  everybody  good-bye,  fully 
expecting  to  return  very  soon;  but  this  was  not 
to  he.  I found  my  father  in  a very  dangerous 
condition,  and  after  a lingering  illness,  he  died 
on  the  18th  of  December,  1905.  Of  course  we 
went  into  mourning  for  one  hundred  days  which 
in  itself  prevented  my  returning  to  the  Court. 

While  in  Shanghai  I made  many  new  friends 
and  acquaintances  and  gradually  began  to  realize 
that  after  all,  the  attractions  of  Court  life  had 
not  been  able  to  eradicate  the  influences  which 
had  been  brought  to  bear  upon  me  while  in  Eu- 
rope. At  heart  I was  a foreigner,  educated 
in  a foreign  country,  and,  having  already  met 
my  husband  the  matter  was  soon  settled  and  I 
became  an  American  citizen.  However,  I often 
look  back  to  the  two  years  I spent  at  the  Court 
of  Her  Majesty,  the  Empress  Dowager  of 
China,  the  most  eventful  and  happiest  days  of 
my  girlhood. 

Although  I was  not  able  to  do  much  towards 
influencing  Her  Majesty  in  the  matter  of  re- 


CONCLUSION 


383 


form,  I still  hope  to  live  to  see  the  day  when 
China  shall  wake  up  and  take  her  proper  place 
among  the  nations  of  the  world. 


THE  ENB> 


Date  Due 


m 12  ’4 

f 

DS710.D5 

Two  years  in  The  Forbidden  city 


